MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Tablets and smartphones may be played by millions of casual gamers, but up until now mobile devices haven’t really been seen as systems for enthusiast gamers. One app game, Vainglory, is changing that. It’s carved out its own competitive gaming scene, and earlier this month held its own championships at …
Read More »The Loneliness of the Professional Gamer
If you haven’t heard of Jonathan Sutak, producer and director ofThe Foreigner, a new documentary about professionalStarCraft II(2010), you can take solace in knowing that you’ve probably seen some of his work. Not, mind you, the two independent dramas—UpThe River(2015), a romance, andDon’t Worry Baby(2015), a comedy—he’s produced; you haven’t …
Read More »Gaming’s gender split equal across PC and mobile
The widespread stereotype of gamers as being predominantly male has been dealt yet another blow. A newreportfrom App Annie looking into the US audiences for mobile, PC and console during Q3 2015 found that iOS, Android and PC/Mac gamers were almost exactly evenly-split between male and female. The console demographic, …
Read More »Gamer audience gender split equal on PC and mobile, male-dominant on console
Console skews to youngest audience, while PC reaches over 45s and mobile spans the widest age range
Read More »Esports is getting its own hall of fame
ESLis adding another parallel between traditional sports andesports: an esports hall of fame. The esports hall of fame, launched as a semi-autonomous entity from ESL itself, will be operated much like traditional sports halls. A panel of writers, commentators, coaches, analysts and other experts will vote on entrants to the …
Read More »American McGee says Spicy Horse is not closing, but is moving away from F2P
Alice developer Spicy Horse is not, as rumours have claimed, closing down. Founder American McGee has confirmed, however, that jobs have been lost at the studio. He has also stated that it is moving away from the free-to-play sector. No,” he replied on Facebook when asked if the closure rumours …
Read More »Nintendo UK boosts PR and marketing teams following senior departures
Nintendo has made two major hires to its UK team, following the departures of senior marketing and PR executives last year. Matthias Hempfling has joined as marketing and PR director, and Kalpesh Tailorhas come on-board as head of communications. Both join from Nintendo’s European head office in Frankfurt. In 2015, …
Read More »Coder exploits Steamworks loophole to release unverified game
Ruby Nealon snuck Watch Paint Dry onto Steam store after his warnings about virtual backdoor went ignored by Valve
Read More »Mass Effect Andromeda could paint humanity as the aggressive coloniser
An EA survey has suggested that Mass Effect Andromeda might take a somewhat surprising narrative route. Mass Effect: Andromeda takes players to the Andromeda galaxy, far beyond the Milky Way, where players will lead the fight for a new home in hostile territory — where WE are the aliens — …
Read More »Web developer sneaks game onto Steam without Valve’s permission
An English web developer going by the name Ruby has successfully uploaded a game to Steam, without Valve’s permission, to illustrate a security loophole. The game, if you can call it that, was called Watch Paint Dry. It was a spoof title, really, and has since been removed by Valve. …
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