MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Subsets of the games community are crying ‘censorship’ once again after Blizzard has said it will pull sexually exploitative Overwatch artwork. The pose in question depicts Tracer looking over her shoulder at the viewer, displaying her lycra-clad behind. It’s a position that nearly every female game or superhero movie star …
Read More »The Division claims third UK No.1
Ubisoft’s online shooter The Division is at the top of the UK Top 40 once again. The new IP holds this position in spite of a 35 per cent decline in sales over last week. This is the game’s third UK No.1, and the longest a Ubisoft title has held …
Read More »Ubisoft opens production studio in the Philippines
New location aims to employ 200 staff within five years
Read More »Shaq headlines latest celeb sports stars to invest in eSports team NRG
Shaquille O’Neal, the former NBA superstar, has become the latest American sports celebrity to put their money into their electronic counterparts. Joined by baseball players Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins, the three were part of last week’s financial round for eSports team NRG. NRG fields a League of Legends …
Read More »Riot Games and Australian Hoyts team up for cinema viewing parties
Hoyts Cinemas have joined as an official sponsor of the Oceanic Pro League in Oceania and will act as the official viewing party partner for all major League of Legends esports events during 2016. Damian Keogh, HOYTS Group CEO said, HOYTS are excited to partner with League of Legends esports …
Read More »The rise and fall of StarCraft II as an eSport
When the history books of esports are written, they will refer with reverence to the Roman Empire of gaming that was StarCraft. Released in 1998, the original StarCraft developed an unprecedented following in South Korea, where, for over a decade, complex leagues with ever-burgeoning prize pools increased the game’s profile …
Read More »Blizzard investigating allegations of win-trading in China’s Hearthstone scene
Blizzard is investigating accusations of large-scale cheating in China’sHearthstonecommunity, both on the in-game ladder and in offline tournaments. The allegations, brought to light by senior members of the ChineseHearthstonecommunity and published last week byGosuGamers, claimed that over a dozen top Chinese players were involved, including TongFu’s "FengFengFeng" and five members …
Read More »Casters boycott LoL tournament until Riot increases freelance pay rates
Multiple freelance League of Legends casters have signed an open letter announcing their boycotting of the Mid-Season International over pay rates. Christopher MonteCristo” Mykles, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist, and Chris PapaSmithy” Smith were invited by Riot to cast the event, to take place in Shanghai this May, but turned down the …
Read More »EA promotes Laura Miele to EVP of global publishing
FIFA publisher EA has announced that Laura Miele is joining its executive leadership team next month. The firm’s CEO Andrew Wilson announced Miele’s promotion in a blog post on its website, saying that her new role would be effective start Q1 2017 (April 1st). This is also when Peter Moore …
Read More »SuperData: Digital games generated $6.2bn worldwide in February
Digital game sales were up ten per cent year-on-year this February, reaching a total value of $6.2b (4.4bn). That’s according to research firm SuperData, which reports that digital console games saw the largest growth – 34 per cent year-on-year. Console also saw a 27 per cent growth in audience. New …
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