William Hill makes £242m offer for Swedish gaming company in Brexit hub move October 31, 2018 Bookmaker William Hill has today announced a recommended cash offer of £242m for Swedish gaming company Mr Green & Co as it prepares for Brexit. William Hill’s shares jumped nearly six per cent following the announcement while shares in Mr Green soared nearly 48 per cent to 68.5 Swedish krona, just short the offer price [...]
Nintendo second quarter profits hit eight-year high, but still miss expectations October 30, 2018 Nintendo failed to meet analysts' expectations despite reporting an eight-year profit high for its second-quarter profits today, thanks to sales of Switch consoles and games. The figures The Japanese gaming giant revealed that profits grew 30 per cent year-on-year to hit 30.9bn yen (£214.17m) between July and September. Yet analysts were underwhelmed after estimating profits to [...]
Online betting company duty to increase by six per cent October 29, 2018 The levy applied to online betting companies will increase to 21 per cent as fixed odd betting machine stakes are reduced to £2. The remote gaming duty applied to "online games of chance" will be upped by six per cent from October next year, Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed in the Autumn Budget today. "From remote [...]
Loot boxes, video games, and others ways the gaming industry wants you to spend more money October 18, 2018 What do you get when you buy a game? You might think that, after spending hundreds of pounds on a PlayStation or Xbox console, or an expensive gaming PC, then another £50 on the latest release, you’re getting a full and complete experience. But that’s not necessarily the case. Games are very expensive to [...]
Growing the UK games industry’s success shouldn’t be taxing October 18, 2018 The video games industry is one of the UK’s great success stories. Last week’s report by the British Film Institute (BFI) showed that the sector is thriving, describing it as a “significant entertainment industry”, which has produced a “wide array of globally successful and culturally impactful entertainment products”. At The Independent Games Developers' Association (TIGA), [...]
Games Workshop shares slip after it warns of uncertainties in upcoming trading periods October 18, 2018 Shares in model retailer Games Workshop fell more than six per cent this morning after it warned of “uncertainties in the trading periods ahead for the rest of the 2018/19 financial year”. In a trading update this morning Games Workshop said trading to 7 October had continued well with sales ahead of the same period [...]
FTSE 100 bookie GVC places all bets on Europe in quarterly sales boost October 18, 2018 Sales at sports betting firm GVC were boosted in the third quarter as customers turned to online outfits in the midst of the football World Cup, but Brits themselves were not so convinced. GVC, which owns brands such as Gala, Ladbrokes and Coral, revealed today in a trading update for the three months to 30 September that [...]
Improbable unveils move to new London HQ October 8, 2018 A London-based virtual reality firm is to take up a new City headquarters, as it looks to accelerate its expansion ambitions following a wave of investments from abroad. Improbable, a games company that was founded six years ago, is moving its base from Farringdon to Spitalfields as part of a plan to accommodate its growing workforce, [...]
F1 video game-maker Codemasters accelerates towards full-year targets October 8, 2018 Recently listed gaming firm Codemasters today told investors it was on track to meet its full-year targets as it made £39.7m in revenue in the six months to 30 September 2018. The maker of the official F1 video games said digital sales as a proportion of its revenue rose to 53 per cent, amounting to [...]
Leading bookie calls for ban on TV gambling ads before watershed October 7, 2018 The boss of one of the UK's biggest bookmakers will this week call for a ban on gambling adverts being shown before the 9pm watershed. Kenny Alexander, chief executive of Ladbrokes and Coral owner GVC, told City A.M. the number of ads appearing during football games had got "out of hand" as he called for the rest of [...]