MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Selling previously played titles online may open businesses up to a nationwide – or even worldwide – customer base, and provide an extra opportunity for making margins. However, the practice of trading games online doesn’t come without its challenges, specifically the postal aspect of such a service. There is always …
Read More »5 things that won’t happen in 2011
1. Publishers to stop moaning about second-handPublishers have whined and whined about the evil that is pre-owned. They’ve even risked pissing off gamers with second user charges. What has retail done? Dedicated more space to it in-store. Get over it. 2. Tax breaksLook, let’s get this straight: it’s not happening. …
Read More »OPINION: We need real market data
With a hole of 500m in the High Street when it comes to games, I don’t think anyone expected fireworks from the end-of-year data. In the digital era, are these figures still relevant? For the majority, , they still are of course. But while we can spin nice and chunky …
Read More »Whats the ‘real’ market value?
The UK games market in 2010 was down more than 400m year-on-year, but critics say this doesn’t show the true health of the market. According to Gfk Chart-Track figures the games market has fallen 13 per cent to 2.875bn. But this number does not take into account pre-owned sales, which …
Read More »Retailers make VAT pledge
Retailers have adjusted the price of games following the VAT rise. With margins already tight, stores have passed on the increase to customers to maintain profit. GAME, Gamestation, HMV and Argos are among the High Street retailers which have raised prices, while online firms Amazon, Play and ShopTo have also added …
Read More »Software plunge troubles Best Buy
Retailer Best Buy has reported revenues of $8.4bn for December 2010 – a 1.6 per cent decline year-on-year. The US market in isolation suffered a 3.2 per cent dip to $6.5bn, which was partially made up for by a 4.5 per cent jump in international revenues to $1.9bn, though Best …
Read More »2011 – An industry’s hopes
The market may have dipped, but 2010 boasted the biggest entertainment launch of all time, some major reveals and a fair bit of drama, too. But never one to rest on its laurels, the industry has even bigger aspirations. And we have them all. To read our full feature, which …
Read More »OPINION: Getting over the winter blues
A third of the execs we surveyed for our look ahead at 2011 named 3DS as their highlight of the year. Indeed, a new console launch, not a hardware add-on, is a potential antidote to the winter blues. And if the rumourmill is to be believed, we’ve got at least …
Read More »DS ends 2010 on a high note
Nintendo DS was the UK’s biggest selling games device of 2010, MCV understands. Although sales decreased year-on-year, combined sales of DSi, DSi XL and DS Lite just outstripped 360 by just over 50,000 units, according to our retail sources. Since going on sale in 2004 DS has become the most …
Read More »GameStop reports like-for-like Xmas gains
Global games retail giant GameStop has reported a 3.4 per cent like-for-like sales boost for the nine weeks ending January 1st. Overall the retailer saw 5.4 per cent growth compared to Christmas 2009. Revenues for the period hit $3.02bn. Hardware sales were up 7.4 per cent year-on-year with Microsoft’s Xbox …
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