Game industry business news

Future has announced its first ABC Electronic figure for the Computer and Video Games Network, with the site attracting some 1.6m unique users visiting the site during May. With an exact unique user figure of 1,560,247, CVG also generated 11,472,341 page impressions from May 1st to 31st. These are encouraging …

It looks as though Sony Computer Entertainment America is to ‘phase out’ the 60GB PS3 – and plans to leave the 80GB version as the only SKU available to consumers at Christmas. A SCEE spokesperson told next-gen.biz in an email that the US will have ‘only one SKU going into …

SCEA’s VP of marketing Peter Dille has predicted that HD-DVD will be obsolete in a matter of months”, and attacked the build of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 – following an admission by the Seattle firm that it had seen an ‘unacceptable’ number of faulty machines. Dille also condemned his rival’s history …

Velvet Revolver star Slash has agreed to be an in-game end-of-level boss in Activision’s Guitar Hero III. The former Guns’N’Roses axeman has lent his likeness to the game – as well as penning and performing the title music. According to Reuters, the news was revealed at Activision’s E3 media briefing …

Xbox boss Peter Moore has given the new E3 a cautious thumbs up, but questioned whether or not the invitation list was right – whilst global marketing vice president Jeff Bell has suggested that the show may need to quit LA. Moore told MCV: Things got nuts last year. We …

The last press conference of this year’s E3 began with Graham Hopper, president of Disney Interactive Studios declaring the firm’s commitment to the industry: Video games are a long-term priority for our company. We believe that video games are at the forefront of entertainment and that our business is healthy …

Disney Interactive Studios has announced its acquisition of Austin-based Junction Point Studios. Mcvuk.com sister site Developmag.com has revealed that the developer, led by Deus Ex creator Warren Spector, will continue to create new franchises as well as bringing Disney’s properties to next-generation platforms. Last month Disney restated its intentions to …

In new CEO Strauss Zelnick’s first E3 presentation, Take 2 concentrated on its forthcoming Grand Theft Auto update, with the chairman telling the crowd that he wants his firm to become the most innovative” in the US. Zelnick didn’t make much reference to the firm’s recent financial troubles – but …

Yves Guillemot opened Ubisoft’s E3 presentation yesterday with the bold claim that the global games market will grow 40 to 50 per cent in the next four years. He was then followed on stage by Ubisoft VP of marketing Tony Key, who said: "We’ve had a lot of success in …

THQ opened its E3 presentation by showcasing Smackdown vs Raw 2008 for Wii, with the help of two WWE female wrestlers, who announced on stage we’re here to play.” The firm’s senior vice president of marketing Bob Aniello then touched upon a number of familiar licences from Nickelodeon and Pixar, …