News Byte

Next Up to Investigate Google’s Competitive Practices: Canada

Liz Gannes in News on May 17 at 6:03 pm PT

Here’s some late-on-a-Friday regulatory news for you: Canada’s Competition Bureau will investigate Google’s Canadian business operations, according to the Financial Post. Google confirmed the investigation, while Canada declined comment. Earlier this year, Google was largely cleared in a U.S. antitrust examination, and it is currently testing remedies in Europe.

News Byte

April Was a Loser for Videogame Industry

John Paczkowski in News on May 17 at 1:36 pm PT

April was a cruel month indeed for the videogame industry. Sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories in the U.S. for the month peaked at $495.2 million, according to sales data from research firm NPD, down 25 percent from the same period in 2012. Retail software sales declined 17 percent year over year to $254.3 million. Hardware sales plummeted 42 percent from the year prior to $109.5 million. The top console for the month? Microsoft’s Xbox 360, though it sold just 130,000 units in April, down 45 percent from a year earlier.

News Byte

NYT Digital Head Joins EA Board of Directors

Mike Isaac in News on May 17 at 12:17 pm PT

Game giant Electronic Arts announced Friday that Denise F. Warren, head of digital products and services at the New York Times, will join its board of directors. Warren replaces outgoing board member Greg Maffei, who sat as a director for a decade (his departure, according to EA, is due to his commitments with Liberty Media, where he is CEO). Before taking over digital products, Warren was the NYT media group’s general manager and chief advertising officer.