Industry

Industry headlines

• You can expect to see twenty panels and more at the PlayStation Experience event

  The PlayStation Experience community event is still about a month away, but there’s plenty of programming to look forward to for PlayStation fans. There’s an impressively large lineup of playable games set to make an appearance there, as well as 20 developer-lead panels to attend. It’s a regular PlayStation extravaganza! If you head to Las […]

• London tech studio Improbable hire Ubisoft's Kajfa Tam

  Former Ubisoft technical art director Kajfa Tam is the latest high-profile developer to join the promising London start-up, Improbable.

• EA and Microsoft paying YouTubers for endorsements complies with FTC guidelines

  YouTubers being paid for positive coverage of games doesn’t breach the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines, according to a spokesperson.

• Has the UK games industry shrunk?

  The UK government reported a sharp decline in revenue year-on-year to 2012, but others believe incomplete information was used.

• Games industry expected to be worth $100 billion by 2017

  According to a new report, the games industry is expected to be worth more than $100 billion in the next three years, with mobile gaming a major driving force.

• EA VP Jeff Brown leaves company

  Jeff Brown has stepped down from his role as senior VP of corporate communications of EA after 14 years.

• Who's buying? UK games retail at all-time low

  MCV reports that games retail sunk to an all-time low last week, according to figures released by UKIE and Chart Track.

• Blockbuster: Publishers giving "an awful lot of support" to boost rental over pre-owned

  Blockbuster’s said in an interview with MCV that publishers are offering “an awful lot of support” to dismantle the pre-owned games market.

• Market analysis: Industry to grow 10.4% in 2011 to $74.4 billion despite June woes

  Market research group Gartner Inc., has estimated software spending in 2011 hit around $44.7 billion despite June’s 10 percent drop in spending reported by NPD.

• Kojima, Bleszinski, Molyneux and others to deliver speech at Gamelab

  This year’s Gamelab conference in Barcelona, Spain will see industry veterans Hideo Kojima, Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux and EA founder Trip Hawkins deliver key speeches.

• Games industry hoping 3DS pulls market out of its year-long slump

  Gaming industry vets are excited over Nintendo 3DS, and are hoping the handheld’s release will help pull the market out of the slump it’s been in for the past year.

• Spector disappointed by devs focusing more on "combat mechanics" than interactive storytelling

  Warren Spector has stated in an interview with Develop he’s a bit disappointed that the gaming industry tends to focus more on combat mechanics when it should be looking to include other interactive means of compelling gameplay.

• Scottish videogames industry at a crossroads, says TIGA

  TIGA has said the Scottish videogames industry is at a “cross roads” , and if it didn’t get some much needed tax breaks, the sector could decline.

• East and West can succeed at globalization with collaboration, says Wada

  Square Enix president Yoichi Wada feels that neither Japanese nor Western publishers have “succeeded at globalization”, due to parent companies having to much control over development studios.

• NPD May 2010: RDR clears 1.5M, Nintendo dominates hardware

  NPD has released May sales figures for the US, showing the third best-selling May on record after 2008 and 2009 and some monster sales for Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption. However, the industry as a whole was down 10 percent for the month year-on-year.

• Inafune: Gaming's largely a western market

  Capcom’s Kenji Inafune has said that gaming’s becoming largely a western market, which is why Capcom is “fighting the good fight,” in order to get its games to work.

• Analyst: 3DS to launch in west in March 2011, cost $249-$299

  Analyst firm Lazard Capital Markets has revealed that it expects that Nintendo to launch its new 3DS system in Japan late this year, and with a US release following in March 2011.

• Molyneux: Converging "forces" to spawn new genres

  In a new interview, Lionhead Studios creative director Peter Molyneux has said that he believes “new genres” will emerge out of the intersection of social spaces, motion control and emotional intent.

• Analyst expects PS3 to outsell 360 by 3.5M this year

  According to a report from Strategy Analytics, the global market share for PS3 is expected to be around 31 percent for the first quarter of the year, will global sales reaching 14 million.