MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
US sales tracker NPD will no longer release the number of games and consoles sold in its monthly report. Effective of October 14th, 2010 (when NPD releases its September data), the press will be unable to report on which consoles sold best in the US. The group is also changing …
Read More »Redbox expanding game kiosk service
Redbox is rolling out its video games rental service to its retail kiosks around the US. Having tested this offer for a few years on select kiosks, the company is now expanding the service to thousands” of its 24,000 machines, according to Joystiq. Similar to its DVD program, Redbox’s video …
Read More »Blockbuster UK comes out fighting
Blockbuster UK is on the offensive following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of its US parent. The company says it is unaffected by the development and has revealed to MCV its business plan for the next five years, which includes selling TVs and relocating stores. The firm’s commercial chief Gerry Butler …
Read More »Blu-ray in 17% of US households
After its now long-forgotten turbulent arrival on the global marketplace, Blu-ray has finally hit its stride and established itself in 17 per cent of North American homes. Home Media reports that the number of Blu-ray players in homes in the region has doubled since 2008. It means one in five …
Read More »Activision squares up to Arnie
A growing number of corporate giants from America’s leading entertainment industries have joined forces to fight a proposed law that would for the first time illegalise the sale of violent games to minors in the US. Activision is amongst the growing number of voices arguing that the law, which was …
Read More »NPD: 360 and Madden triumph in August
US mega franchise Madden is unsurprisingly the biggest seller in the US last month. According to NPD, Over 1.8m copies of the American football title has been sold across PS3 and Xbox 360, a growth of almost six per cent compared to 2009. "Madden NFL 2011 once again made August …
Read More »NPD: US August sales slump 10%
The latest results from stats firm NPD show that the North American games market fell 10 per cent in August compared to the same month a year before. The entire games market for August dropped from $910.3 million in 2009 to $818.9 million this year. The biggest dip was for …
Read More »Killzone 3 gets concrete date
The American PlayStation blog has issued the first solid release date for Killzone 3 – February 22nd 2010. Previously Sony had only confirmed a February arrival for the game, which is the third in the series first debuted by Amsterdam-based developer Guerrilla Games on the PS2 back in November 2004. …
Read More »Yakuza 4 confirmed for Europe
Sega has confirmed that Yakuza 4 will be released in western markets in spring of next year – around 12 months after it first hit Japanese retail. Four is a very powerful number,” the European Sega blog reads. In this particular instalment as not only will you experience the gritty …
Read More »Buyer steps in to save MyWorld
An anonymous American company has completed the purchase of Project Myworld from collapsed studio Realtime Worlds, Develop can reveal. The move has permanently split Realtime Worlds into at least two segments – with numerous potential buyers eyeing up scattered portions of the company that are still deemed profitable. It is …
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