MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
It was a time before the iPad. It was also a time of economic turmoil as the industry continued to battle with the global recession and year-on-year sales continued to plummet.
The first three months of the year also saw Project $10 pick up steam, meltdown at Infinity Ward and the announcement of some brand new hardware. And Ubisoft’s Just Dance surprised the world by proving that third party titles can stills el big on Wii.
Oh, and Bobby Kotick said that he sometimes acts like a dick” and the world’s PS3s took a day off.
JANUARY
The Walt Disney Company completes its $4.3bn acquisition of Marvel Entertainment
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Rumours of a possible Apple tablet computer get serious
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Poor sales of MadWorld and The Conduit see Sega question mature Wii titles
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2009 was the second best year on record, but the UK games industry still suffers an annual decline
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Xbox 360 overtakes Wii to become the biggest grossing format in the UK in 2009
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EA’s assault on Call of Duty kicks off with cocky talk about Battlefield Bad Company 2
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Modern Warfare 2’s monopoly on the UK charts is broken… by Ubisoft’s Just Dance
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Sony admits Gran Turismo 5 won’t hit proposed March release date in Japan. No kidding
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It’s a sign of the times. 29.99 DS and PSP title Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars arrives on iPhone. For 5.99
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PlayStation Move is pushed back from March to the autumn
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Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith says games are partly to blame for ‘Broken Britain’. Not savage spending cuts or reductions in front line policing. Games are to blame, you hear?
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After one of toughest financial periods in recent memory, the UK officially exits recession
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Apple finally unveils its tablet Mac – and it’s called the iPad
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FEBRUARY
Capcom reports a huge 866 per cent year-on-year profits increase
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Ahead of a big year for the company, Sony predicts the PS3 will pass the Xbox 360
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Just two months after it was released, sales of Modern Warfare 2 reach 12m copies
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PS3 hardware sales reach 33.5m worldwide
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Microsoft confirms that it is to pull the plug on Xbox Live support for the original Xbox
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One of the biggest brands in gaming plans a fresh console push with news of PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of The Sims 3
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Staff become fearful after GAME announces further Gamestation consolidation
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Established publishing company Future ventures further into digital waters with new PSN show First Play
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EA’s assault on pre-owned… Sorry. EA’s efforts to offer added value to the consumer continue with DLC code inclusion with Bad Company 2
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Stationary giant WH Smith quits games for good
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Bobby Kotick: Sometimes I sounded like a dick”
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Bobby Kotick: EA is a good option if you want to sell out”
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Square Enix waxes lyrical about its still controversial choice to use X Factor star Leona Lewis as the front of its UK Final Fantasy XIII marketing push
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A real game-changer. Tesco and Asda both signal their intentions to enter the pre-owned games space
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The most expensive game ever made is… (the idea is that you link the link to find out)
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GAME confirms the closure of 43 outlets, resulting in 247 job losses
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Landslide vote leads to the christening of Lara Croft Way in Derby
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MARCH
Sometimes taking a gamble does pay off. Sony’s risky Heavy Rain becomes UK No.1
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MyVoucherCodes.co.uk hones the art of writing controversial, click-grabbing press releases: Xbox 360’s FFXIII will outsell PS3 version”
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One of our favourite news stories this year – an internal calendar bug temporarily bricks around 92 per cent of the world’s PS3s
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Legal warfare kicks off as Activision sacks Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella
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GAME admits that it’s in the process of reviewing staff contracts
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Bizarre Creations reveals some innovative use of social media for its upcoming racer Blur. That will help it sell, right?
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Bad Company 2 becomes the fastest selling game of 2010
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Pissed off PC gamers attack Ubisoft servers responsible for managing controversial online DRM systems
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Final Fantasy XIII finally arrives… (and critics line up to slag it off)
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Bizarre sticks up for Activision as it faces Inf
