Noting the string of studio closures lately, the chief of European operations for Epic Games says there's a pretty simple cause for them.

In an internal memo obtained by IGN, a senior EA Sports executive says the label will soon open a third studio in Texas, and addresses the departures of key developers from its flagship Madden NFL product.

The U.S. Postal Service gave an unfair advantage to competitors like Netflix and Blockbuster Video, a regulatory board said Wednesday, awarding game rental service GameFly a victory in a two-year dispute over the postage, breakage and sorting of its disc mailings.

GameStop's stock lost almost 6 percent today even though it saw greater sales in the 2010 holiday season than it did a year ago. That wasn't enough, apparently.

Being video gamers, you likely are familiar with the Valve co-founder and president. But Forbes, business list-maker extraordinaire, has taken notice and looks to feature Gabe Newell in a December magazine roundup of influential people and concepts.

Goldman Sachs' analysts punked Microsoft's stock rating and archly suggested that the company spin off the Xbox 360 division, saying such a sale could unlock hidden value within the unit and free it from the company's more sluggish performance.

Seven dollars of a $60 video game purchase covers expenses for games never even sold. That's according to a breakdown of retail game cost by an on-demand games service.

A report by a market analysis firm expects video game revenues to hit $64.9 billion by the end of 2013. That would be a growth of 40 percent over what they were at the end of 2009.

I'm just a simple caveman lawyer, and your world of finance frightens and confuses me. However, it sounds like Viacom wants a refund on a substantial bonus it paid to Harmonix's founders.

Top-flight titles like Rock Band and Left 4 Dead are distributed by Electronic Arts but the association doesn't mean as much to the company's bottom line. The publisher will be moving away from distributing third-party titles in the coming year.

Electronic Arts is taking a serious look at the land of grits and fatback for a development center that could employ up to 300 people. Atlanta and Savannah, Ga., are in the running, along with Louisiana.

Walmart's move to cut prices on the Wii and two dozen of the year's top releases was enough to dent GameStop's stock early Wednesday, dropping it nearly 9 percent - the biggest plunge of any stock in the S&P 500.

Whoops. Kinda sorta missed this, another pearl of wisdom from this week's BMO Capital Markets forum. Activision's CFO told conferees that extracting more dough out of players, via charging for certain online play or features, is something we should expect.

Also at today's Digital Entertainment Conference in New York, Electronic Arts' chief financial officer, Eric Brown, said the company will be hiring back some of those positions it axed earlier this week. But it sounds like just the cheaper ones.

Square Enix amended its consolidated results forecast today, lowering its income projections for the fiscal year, which is now half over. Severance payments to get rid of some Taito employees and the company's takeover of Eidos were blamed.

Ever met a Guitar Hero salesman? Me either. Vince Vaughn's character in "Couples Retreat" was made one, however, because he and co-screenwriter John Favreau adore the series. And, how about that, it crowbared a few buxx out of Activision marketing.

File this also under "What they say when we're not listening." Speaking to Forbes, the SCEA chief Jack Tretton answers a few softballs about the PS3 Slim, then says, "the environment where PlayStation wins is best for this industry."

Dow Jones cornered Best Buy's CFO at an investor conference and asked if he'd comment on speculation the retailer might buy GameStop. Ryan Robinson declined to do so, but said some things that still keep the subject alive.

Atari found its new chief financial officer from TheLadders.com. Not that they went literally advertising on the service, which promises careers paying more than $100,000 annually. They got the guy who was its veep for finance.

Yesterday we had a nice argument regarding Factor 5's shutdown and whether the bad economy was to blame. Now, The Economist examines a "recession-proof" business and comes to a few conclusions of its own.