MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
After the disastrous collapse of 2009, global advertising revenue is again on the rise. That’s according to Worldwatch Institute’s Vital Signs Online service, which found that the 9.6 per cent drop suffer in 2009 in the aftermath of the global banking meltdown has been partially reversed thanks to a 3.3 …
Read More »UK game industry returns to growth
Games employment up four per cent in 2012 after three years of decline
Read More »Twitch records strong growth, attracts 28m users in February
Justin.tv owned gaming video service Twitch has posted some very impressive numbers for February 2013. Last month the site hosted over 600,000 unique broadcasters that between them attracted 28m unique users. More impressively, each of these users watched an average of over 1.5 hours of video… every day. Twitch launched …
Read More »US video games market slips 9% in 2012
The total value of the US video games market declined nine per cent in 2012. NPD estimates that the overall the sector was worth $14.8bn, down from $16.34bn in 2011. The number includes sales of physical and digital games (the latter presumably with a bit of guesswork) as well as …
Read More »Further digital growth at Future as UK leads the way
Future PLC has announced digital revenue growth of 24 per cent for its most recent financial quarter. Overall group revenues were down three per cent, although the UK outperformed this with revenues falling just one per cent. Furthermore, Future’s US operations remain on track for profitability in 2013, despite further …
Read More »Samsung expected to increase lead over Apple in 2013
Annual growth of 35 per cent is expected to further increase Samsung’s lead over former market leader Apple in 2013. That’s according to Strategy Analytics, which predicts smartphone shipments will grow 27 per cent to 875m units this year, although that’s down sharply from the 41 per cent jump seen …
Read More »Retail narrowly avoids Christmas drop, grows 0.3% YOY
UK retail sales values were up ever so slightly by 0.3 per cent year-on-year fro December. It’s a severe drop from the 2.2 per cent gain made in 2011, but better than some had feared. The BRC reports that total sales were up 1.5 per cent. This is down from …
Read More »UK digital games sales pass £500m in 2012
A report being published by the Entertainment Retailers Association will this morning say that digital sales in the UK passed 1bn in 2012. That represents the amount spent on games, music and films in 2012, although games accounted for over half of the total at 552m, climbing 7.7 per cent. …
Read More »Will Black Ops II outsell Modern Warfare 3? Does it matter?
All the research suggests that Call of Duty has peaked. Last year’s Modern Warfare 3 sold significantly fewer units in the UK than 2010’s Black Ops and 2009’s Modern Warfare 2. Anecdotally, MCV has been told that online traffic and magazine sales for Call of Duty editorial and covers have …
Read More »The Hut Group reports 54 % sales growth
Etail specialist The Hut Group has bucked the struggling retail trends by posting strong results for H1 2012. Sales for the period were up an impressive 54 per cent year-on-year, with revenue jumping from 42.9m in 2011 to 66.2m. Margins climbed from 0.7 per cent to six per cent thanks …
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