GamesIndustry.biz Newsletter - 20th August 2010

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The demise of developer Realtime Worlds is something of a seismic shock for the UK games business, and especially for the town of Dundee - one of the locations where game development has particularly thrived in this country over the past decade.

In the immediate term, it means that hundreds of developers are out of work. The human cost of a company of this size collapsing is immense. Families will be uprooted and relocated, and some will struggle to keep their heads above water, especially since the firm apparently lacks the funds required to pay wages and redundancy packages.

In the longer term, however, I suspect that the impact of RTW's demise will be felt by the UK games business for many years to come. The company's failure is not entirely a shock - it launched an MMO-style game which was hugely expensive to develop, but which received poor reviews, a combination which would be a fatal blow to most game companies. The scale of the failure, and the context in which it has happened, however, will have a major impact on how the industry does business.

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Today's top stories

New studio set to rise from RTW ashes

13:56 - MyWorld deal involving new development entity is close, source claims

GameStop shares plummet on financial results

12:05 - Analysts and investors unimpressed by retailer's "sloppy" second quarter

Project MyWorld back on as staff re-hired

10:22 - Begbies Traynor takes back 23 staffers in Dundee following "considerable interest from potential buyers"

Today's feature

Realtime Crisis

The collapse of Realtime Worlds is going to have an impact on UK development for years to come.

The rest of today's news

Krome confirms layoffs in Melbourne and Brisbane

09:39 - Adelaide studio also on notice, but rumours of complete closure appear inaccurate

Bigpoint launches ?2m browser game

09:17 - Poisonville represents Hamburg company's biggest investment to-date as it enters open beta

$18m extra investment for Playspan

09:16 - Vodafone Ventures and Softbank contribute to Series C funding for virtual goods outfit

Over 90% of 8-11 year olds play online games

08:33 - Mario and Modern Warfare lead brand awareness amongst kids, claims new survey

Games Fleadh 2011 dated

11:17 - Two day student event finals to take place at the Tipperary Institute in March 2011

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