MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
A two-person family development team has seen the launch of its highly anticipated PC title ruined by repeated cyber attacks. Cube World was finally released in alpha last week but very few gamers have been lucky enough to get their hands on it due to repeated store downtime. It transpires, …
Read More »Activision re-joins Entertainment Software Association
The Entertainment Software Association has confirmed that Activision has re-joined the trade body. The pair originally parted ways back in May 2008, with an Activision rep telling GameSpot at the time: "After careful consideration, Activision has decided not to renew its ESA membership for business reasons and will not be …
Read More »Former Valve hardware boss criticises company’s ‘hidden management’ clique
Valve’s idealised ‘flat management’ structure is not all it’s cracked up to be, according to one of the developers fired from the studio earlier this year. Hardware hacker and former head of Valve’s hardware division Jeri Ellsworth has characterised secretive Valve’s purportedly utopian structure as masking ‘hidden management’ cliques that …
Read More »Tales of Xillia 2 getting PS3 release in 2014
Namco Bandai has announced a Western release date for RPG sequel Tales of Xillia 2. The PS3-exclusive RPG will be released in Europe and Australia in 2014. Which – obviously – means it arrives after the launch of PS4 at the end of the year. Tales of Xillia 2 is …
Read More »Microsoft wanted to acquire Zynga in 2010; Mattrick fronted negotiations
Don Mattrick lead an attempted acquisition of Zynga for then employer Microsoft in 2010, it has been claimed. Bloomberg reports that negotiations took place between Mattrick and Zynga founder Mark Pincus. Microsoft had hoped to add Zynga’s then hit titles to its Xbox Live service. Although no concrete reason was …
Read More »Just as we suspected, the Wii Vitality Sensor has been scrapped
One of the most maligned pieces of gaming hardware ever revealed will not now be released. In truth, any potential release for the Wii Vitality Sensor would have come as a shock. But the reason for the peripheral’s demise has certainly come as a surprise. After a large-scale test of …
Read More »Iwata: Layoffs are not the answer to weakening Nintendo financials
Reducing the staff count may lower overheads but it also comes at a cost, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has claimed. If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results employee morale will decrease and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will …
Read More »GREE to close UK office
Japanese mobile games firm GREE will pull out of the UK as it restructures its business across Europe. According to Tech Crunch UK the firm has proposed to shut down the team it was building in central London. Last summer the firm announced formal plans to open a UK office …
Read More »iOS App Store turns five, hit games go free to celebrate
Infinity Blade II and Tiny Wings are just some of the games you can download for free today as part of the iOS App Store’s 5th birthday celebrations. The App Store launched on July 10th, 2008 and its impact on the video games market cannot be understated. Now mobile publishers …
Read More »Iwata: "More third-party Wii U titles on the way"
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has teased that unnanounced games from third-party publishers are in development for Wii U. Like many Nintendo home consoles before it, the Wii U has struggled to secure strong and consistent third-party support since launch. Most notably, there are very few EA games in development for …
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