MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
HMV and GAME hope to get a slice of Olympic gold as they open new-look stores in Westfield’s 1.45bn Stratford shopping complex. Westfield says the centre – which opened at the Olympic village this week – has a catchment area of 4.1m residents, with a potential spend of 3.24bn between …
Read More »FEATURE: Q&A and Localisation Roundtable
As consumers opt for bigger games of a higher quality, the need for these products to undergo vigorous testing is stronger than ever. This essential step of the production process, combined with huge growth in the digital, social and casual gaming sector, has resulted in a boom for some QA …
Read More »505 shines in bleak August for UK retail
Retail will hope the worst is behind it as August game sales plunged to new lows. The boxed games market did enjoy a late sales spike with Deus Ex, which reached No.2 in the Chart-Track monthly charts despite just two days on sale. But this only highlights what a weak …
Read More »FEATURE: Digital thriving on the High Street
Ask an industry exec what retailers can do to survive in today’s increasingly digital marketplace, and they’ll tell you: ‘Retail needs to evolve.’ It’s a meaningless soundbite because when asked how, few seem to know. Those that do simply suggest copying Apple’s store format or spending millions on unproven online …
Read More »ShopTo.net doubles warehouse capacity
Leading independent online games retailer ShopTo.net has doubled its warehouse capacity as we enter the busy Q4 period. It means that in the region of 1,600 items are now available in its under five minute dispatch” offer. It says that system makes ShopTo the fastest dispatch company in the games …
Read More »NPD reports 23% decline in US August video games market
The latest data from stats body NPD has shown that the US video games market suffered a 23 per cent year-on-year decline in August. It says the main reason was EA’s decision to release this year’s Madden game two weeks later than is typically normal – and subsequently out of …
Read More »INTERVIEW: Roy Bahat, IGN
IGN’s ambitious president Roy Bahat tells Christopher Dring what the recent UGO acquisition brings to its business, why it sold Direct2Drive and how it plans to grow the entire video games market. IGN’s Roy Bahat is one of the most powerful men in the games media.He is in charge of …
Read More »Experts says digital will pass discs in two years
Sales of online games are expected to pass physical retail from 2013, an analyst at DFC Intelligence has claimed. The report predicts that online sales will increase from $19.3 billion in 2010 to $37.9 billion by 2016, driving the overall industry value to $81 billion.It also states that traditional retail …
Read More »Digital chart would be ‘pointless’
Publishers do not want to share data to make a download chart, says Paul Jackson OBE. Comments from the former EA UK and ELSPA boss come in stark contrast to the message from trade body UKIE, which says the industry must unite and start sharing data. When asked what he …
Read More »FEATURE: Activision’s toy challenge
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is probably the most retail-friendly game out this Christmas. It has DLC you can only buy in a shop. When the game talks of cross-platform play, it doesn’t mean online multiplayer between a 360 and PS3, it means taking your toys round a mate’s house.It’s innovative in …
Read More »