Publishing

Activision, which yesterday became the newly-crowned leading global games publisher follwoing its merger with Vivendi , has stated that it is brimming with confidence going into the annual battle for the Christmas number one – with Call of Duty 4 spearheading its efforts. The fourth iteration of the high profile …

Publisher Vivendi has upped sticks and moved to a bigger premises in Marlow as the company looks to expand its UK operations. The move has happened just at the unexpected confirmation has emrged that Vivendi has merged with former publishing rival Activision to form the world’s largest third party publisher …

In the most surprising news of the year, Electronic Arts has been dethroned as the games industry’s biggest publisher, ousted by a new company formed following the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games. The two companies said that the massive power-shifting deal, worth a total of $18.9bn, will create ‘the …

Yesterday MCV reported that Microsoft looks set to unleash the European version of Xbox 360 video on demand service by the end of the year – and today news arrives that Sony’s PS3 equivalent could be with us just weeks later. Though there’s still no mention of a possible date …

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has boldly claimed that its next-gen console outperformed rival PS3 over the Thanksgiving week in North America – but Sony America has fought back, climbing Microsoft’s figures are ‘way off’. Microsoft says that estimated retail figures suggest that it sold 310,00 units for the week …

Simplygames.com’s new boss Neil Muspratt believes that with a mixture of low prices, canny deals and an easy-to-navigate site, the UK e-tailer can mix it with the big boys this Christmas. The relaunched site has already seen traffic rising significantly in the run-up to the festive season, and is now …

Clearly, it’s a great chance to cash in on the festive season – take a glance at the number of piss-poor ‘comedy’ DVDs that have been rushed out in time for the don’t-know-what-to-buy-your-dad market. Even Piers Morgan’s got a football gaffes DVD out – a man who not only has …

If there’s one thing retailers don’t need to be reminded about, it’s that Christmas is coming – that whirlwind few weeks where more business is done than the previous months put together. It’s also the time to diversify – and one of the most lucrative areas in which a games …

The Video Recordings Act 1984 makes it an offence to supply a recording containing a video work without BBFC classification. Video games which are not video works, or which are not supplied as a video recording, will not require classification from the BBFC. The question in each case is therefore …

You recently signed a major deal with NBC – can you tell us a little about it? Justin Townsend: This new agreement effectively means that their digital sales force in North America will be able to sell a portion of our inventory alongside the various premium TV properties NBC owns …