MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Rationally, a decline in UK industry Christmas marketing spend makes sense at a time when there are fewer games coming out, and the ones remaining are getting most of the attention. Compare the year-on-year release schedules, however, and Q4 isn’t particularly quiet year-on-year. Ubi, EA and Activision have their favourites …
Read More »Q4 games advertising revenue drops 40% this Christmas
The age of excess is clearly over. UK games firms are spending 99m on advertising this Christmas, MCV can reveal. That’s a drop of 40 per cent year-on-year. The figures are based on a survey of the biggest companies in the UK games industry. In comparison, publishers, retailers and developers …
Read More »Video game giants head to Brand Licensing Europe
Assassin’s Creed, Sonic and LittieBigPlanet are amongst the top video game franchises heading to Brand Licensing Europe this week. The event will feature over 248 exhibitors in what the organisers are describing as the biggest in the show’s 14-year history. It all kicks off at London’s Olympia tomorrow (October 16th) …
Read More »Exiled Salman Rushdie turned to Super Mario World
A new memoir from author Salman Rushdie has revealed that the respected academic has a (until now) secret love of SNES hit Super Mario World. The Millions reports that at one stage during his ten-year exile on the run from a fatwa, Rushdie took to playing Super Mario World after …
Read More »Accessories boom for Dixons
Electronics group Dixons Retail plans toramp up its support for gaming accessories. The firm, which owns Currys and PC World, described itself as the sleeping giant” of the peripherals sector and is keen to grab a bigger slice of sales going forwards. We have over 500 stores in the UK …
Read More »Tesco’s Mark Burgess joins Game Retail
Tesco’s games buyer Mark Burgess has left the supermarket chain for specialist giant Game Retail. Burgess joins the team as third party physical and digital content manager. I am really pleased to be joining GAME at such an exciting time,”?Burgess told MCV. There is lots of innovative activity taking place …
Read More »VIDEO: The best gaming Marching Band performance you’ll ever see
The Ohio State Marching Band clearly knows a thing or two about video games. And marching. And banding. This remarkable half-time show from a few days ago blends many of gaming’s most recognisable IP – Space Invaders, Mario, Tetris, Zelda – complete with authentic music and dazzling choreography. Clearly it’s …
Read More »UK CHARTS: FIFA 13 holds on to No1; Resident Evil 6 debuts in 2nd
EA’s FIFA 13 has clung on to the UK top spot, despite a 72 per cent week-on-week drop in sales. The latest figures from UKIE and GfK Chart-Track show that Capcom’s Resident Evil 6 managed second place in its first week, although it becomes the fourth biggest release of the …
Read More »UK Gov asks: What makes a game ‘British’?
The UK government has today opened the call for industry feedback on its imminent tax break for games economic policy. In the March 2012 Budget UK chancellor George Osborne announced that the Government will introduce corporation tax reliefs for the animation, high-end television and video games industries from April 2013. …
Read More »HMV’s Oxford Street grows games presence
The Oxford Street branch of HMV is now home to a special Gamerbase designed to promote games at launch. The 25ft square area currently features astroturf and football pitch themed furniture, as well as playable copies of FIFA 13. Next month, the space will be redesigned to host Need For …
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