JUNE 30, 2009 • The U.S. Supreme Court accepted a request by the National Football League to determine whether the league is a single entity that can act collectively, or 32 distinct businesses that are subject to anti-trust laws. The NFL won a case brought by American Needle Inc. in appeals court, but wants a more sweeping .....

JUNE 30, 2009 • Reports out of Taiwan suggest that electronics suppliers there have received orders from Sony to produce components for a slimmer, lighter PS3. Impact: Reports out of Taiwan component suppliers are usually fairly broad stroke indicators of major changes to console hardwa.....

JUNE 29, 2009 • Microsoft intends to bring rich media technologies such as Silverlight to Xbox Live during the next year. The move will make it easier to create the same interactive ad for the web, mobile phones and Xbox Live – making it less expensive, and more attractive, for advertisers to market on the console.....

JUNE 29, 2009 • Epic Games opened a wholly-owned business unit in Seoul, South Korean. The new office will be tasked with licensing Unreal engine technology and supporting Korean development teams utilizing Epic technology. Impact: Epic’s arrival in Seoul is confirmation of the st.....

JUNE 27, 2009 • Warner Bros. $33 million offer turned out to be the sole bidder for Midway Games assets. With no other bidders, the auction originally scheduled to sell of the publisher’s products like Mortal Kombat was cancelled. A Delaware bankruptcy judge approved the acquisition on July 2. .....

JUNE 25, 2009 • Gathering of Developers/Gamecock veterans Mike Wilson and Harry Miller have formed a new production and distribution company, Devolver Digital.  The firm will be supporting the release of Croteam’s Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD on PC and Xbox Live Arcade. The original Serious Sam was released through g.o......

JUNE 25, 2009 • Electronic Arts combined its Bioware and Mythic divisions into one MMO group. Management of day-to-day operations of the new group will be vested in Bioware executives, with long-time Mythic chief Mark Jacobs stepping down and leaving the company. In the days following, it was announced that Mythic staff would assist on Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. Impact: MMOs are a massive undertaking with a high risk/high reward payoff.  It is.....

JUNE 22, 2009 • As micro-transactions for online games grow in North America, developers and publishers are increasingly looking for experienced monetization partners. With more MMOs and other titles generating revenue in smaller and smaller chunks are the extra considerations that come into play with a greater frequency of consumer transactions. In the same way it doesn’t make sense to engineer a new game engine with every new title, neither does it makes sense to develop a separate back.....