Game industry business news

HMV is offering 1,000 free Live Points to anyone who pre-orders Lost Odyssey before its Friday release. 1,000 points roughly equates to 8.50 and can be used to download software from Xbox Live Arcade. HMV is selling the game for 39.99. Lost Odyssey is the latest game from Hironobu Sakaguchi’s …

GAME’s two most senior management members, Lisa Morgan and David Thomas, have sold over 5 million of stock between them. The news has influenced the retailer’s share price to fall by 14 per cent today, down to 192.75p. A GAME spokesperson told MCV: "Lisa and David could not trade shares …

Games industry singled out to benefit from new Government commitments

The British Government has launched its new strategy paper: Creative Britain: New Talents for a New Economy. The new strategy has been announced by the secretary of state for culture media and sport, Andy Burnham, and is designed to research the economic benefits of the creative industries and raise awareness …

In the wake of EA’s shock announcement of its move to acquire Rockstar owner Take Two, Wedbush Morgan Analyst Michael Pachter has stated that, in his opinion, the deal is now inevitable. We think that EA has two choices – beat ‘em or join ‘em,” he said. They are attempting …

We disagree with both thoughts. In our view, EA is serious when it said that it reserves to withdraw its offer, and that Take-Two will not be worth as much in the future as it is today. As we consider the possible benefits to EA from a combination, it is …

Publisher Electronic Arts has dated one of its key new next-gen IPs today with the news that Dead Space will be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in both Europe and North America on October 31st. The game, which is being developed by EA’s Redwood Shores Studio, is a survival …

With both user numbers and publisher support swelling for Valve’s online digital distribution network Steam, Valve’s marketing vice president Doug Lombardi has said that the firm is looking to widen its offering to more types of digital content. Speaking to US consumer site Tom’s Games, Lombardi stated: We’re looking at …

Though it may only be the techno-savvy who will be excited by the news, the fact that Sony’s upcoming PS3 PVR PlayTV will not implement any kind of DRM (digital rights management) is potentially quite important. Content recorded from the Freeview tuner is converted into MPEG-2 format and can then …

After failing to spark the imagination of The Sims fanbase first time out, EA has resurrected its MMO adaptation of its famous franchise under the new name EA Land. Based on the architecture behind The Sims Online, the free-to-play title offers several improvements on the first game. The 12 separate …