Industry news articles

Despite revenue of $7.5 billion in December, Best Buy still saw a drop in video game sales. Best Buy's entertainment software revenue category, which made up a quarter of Best Buy's revenue in December and includes movies, music and games, saw a drop of 12.2 percent. Video gaming sales saw a single digit drop, which the company blamed on a drop in console sales.
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The Institute LSA get their hands on sales number for video games sold in France in 2008. Nintendo dominated with 1.6 Million Wii and 2.25 million NDS. Microsoft sells 566K Xbox 360 and Sony sells 708K Playstation 3. For software, Mario Kart Wii is selling higher than Wii Fit, at 1.3 Million and 1 Million units. Grand Theft Auto IV at 392K for PS3 version. In the end, the sector achieved a turnover of 3 billion euros, or 22% more that 2007.
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Japan’s overall gaming market during 2008 shrunk by 15.3 percent (to YEN 582.61bn), reflecting a 23.5 percent decline in hardware sales (to YEN 250.50bn), coupled with a 7.9 percent decrease in software sales (to YEN 332.12bn), compared to a year earlier. In 2007, the late 2006 launched Wii and PS3 continuously helped invigorate the market and it is considered that this brought about a tougher comparison for 2008.
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According to the Top 10s for unit sales of both individual SKUs and the All Formats listing, Nintendo formats drove sales while multiformat efforts from the likes of EA, Activision Blizzard, Rockstar and LucasArts secured glory too. Mario Kart Wii was the best selling single-SKU of the year, selling continually after its April 2008 release apparently running FIFA 09's 2m copies a close second even in the all formats chart.
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In an article in the New York Times, it is revealed that Barack Obama's daughters received a shiny new Nintendo console when Santa Claus visited this year. "Mr. Obama said he’d have his hands full attempting to rescue the American economy. But he has gotten in a little practice in bowling lately on the Nintendo Wii his daughters received for Christmas. Mr. Obama, who famously struggled in bowling during last year’s Democratic primaries, said he performs better in the video game."
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Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix) today announced that Square Enix and Ubisoft Japan entered into an exclusive distribution agreement under which Square Enix is entitled to distribute UBISOFT Group games exclusively in Japan starting April 2009.
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GameStop ignored the so-called "economic crisis" as it went on to generate $2.85 billion in revenue during the holiday period (November 2nd through January 3rd). Overall sales were up 22.3 percent over last year and store sales were up 10.2 percent. Despite not sharing actual numbers, the behemoth did reveal the top-selling titles during the period: * Call of Duty: World at War * Guitar Hero World Tour * Gears of War 2 * World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King * Wii Fit
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The top 10 best selling PC entertainment titles in the US for the week ending December 27th, 2008 according to NPD.
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Total sales of videogame software was over GBP 1.9 billion during the year, a rise of 23 per cent over 2007, while console sales accounted for GBP 1.422 billion
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UGO Entertainment and parent Hearst Corporation have acquired 1UP and its associated sites GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com, and GameTab.com. 1UP and its sites now join UGO's network of gaming properties that will reach over 40 million monthly unique visitors.
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