SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a Chinese hacking ring that they said broke into the servers of dozens of online videogaming companies and stole valuable source code over a four-year period.

Kaspersky Lab warned on Thursday that an organization it christened “Winnti” had infiltrated the servers of at least 35 game developers and publishers, mostly in East Asia including South Korea, but also in Germany, the United States, Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, Peru, and Belarus.

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Reuters) – Walt
Disney Co plans to shut the 30-year-old LucasArts studio
it inherited with the acquisition of George Lucas’ film company
last year, and focus on licensing its “Star Wars” brand
externally, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

The closure will involve an unknown number of layoffs. A
“small team” will remain to handle licensing partnerships but
all inhouse development has been halted, including its
much-anticipated title “Star Wars 1313″, said Miles Perkins, a
spokesman for Lucasfilm Ltd.

March 28 (Reuters) – Retailer GameStop Corp warned
of weak sales this year as customers delay purchases ahead of
the arrival of next-generation videogame consoles, but it
reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

The world’s largest retailer of videogame products said on
Thursday that it expected full-year sales to remain flat or fall
by as much as 8 percent, implying revenue of between $8.18
billion and $8.89 billion. Analysts on average expect $8.86
billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Reuters) – Electronic Arts’
Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello has resigned after six
years at the helm of the video games publisher, saying he held
himself accountable for missed operational targets.

The company behind the “Sims” and “Medal of Honor”
franchises on Monday warned investors that earnings in the
current quarter will be at the low end of, or slightly below,
its previously issued forecasts.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Electronic Arts’ Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello has resigned, saying he was “accountable” for the company missing its operational targets.

The company warned investors that earnings in the current quarter will be at the low end of or slightly below its previously issued forecast after the announcement.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Server problems that botched the launch of Electronic Arts Inc’s new “SimCity” title last week and incensed gamers who could not access the game for days have improved but not yet been fully resolved, the company said.

About a week since the game’s launch, the company has been scrambling to add servers and issue client updates to tackle server connectivity issues that plagued users.

March 8 (Reuters) – Electronic Arts Inc’s launch of
the newest game in its signature “SimCity” franchise this week
was marred by a series of technical faults that shut out some
gamers for days, triggering an outcry on social networks and
Internet forums.

Players of the city-building simulation, now hosted wholly
online rather than stored on personal computers, were plagued by
constant error alerts when trying to log in.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7 (Reuters) – Pandora Media Inc
CEO Joseph Kennedy is stepping down and the search for a
replacement has begun, a surprise announcement that came the
same day the Internet music service reported
stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of the company, the leader in Internet-streaming
radio, leapt 20 percent immediately after it reported results
and forecast better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter
of fiscal year 2014.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sony Corp unveiled its first video game console in seven years on Wednesday that will let users stream and play video games hosted on servers, hoping the move will help stem user losses, pre-empt the next version of Microsoft’s Xbox and propel it back to the top of the videogame hardware industry.

The company revealed its PlayStation 4 console, which will succeed the PlayStation 3, at a flashy event in New York with game developers like Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in attendance.

TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Sony Corp is expected to
showcase a new PlayStation console on Wednesday in a pre-emptive
strike against Microsoft Corp’s bid to make its Xbox
the world’s leading hub for household entertainment.

The rare PlayStation event in New York comes amid industry
speculation that Microsoft is set to unveil the successor to its
Xbox 360, which beats the seven-year-old PlayStation 3′s online
network with features such as voice commands on interactive
gaming and superior connectivity to smartphones and tablets.