MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Sony’s credit rating to A-, citing concerns over long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings. The likelihood of Sony’s weak earnings persisting has increased”, the ratings group said. There are no signs of a halt to the deterioration in the earnings …
Read More »Get access to Star Wars: The Old Republic five days early
Some lucky gamers are going to be given the chance to play Star Wars: The Old Republic as early as five days before its official release on December 20th. Those who have pre-ordered the PC title will shortly receive an Early Game Access code. Once redeemed it gives the customer …
Read More »Obsidian says Online Pass ‘is a gimmick’
Feargus Urquhart, the CEO of developer Obsidian, has criticised the use of the Online Pass in the industry’s battle against pre-owned video games. One of the recent issues is not putting the full game in the package and requiring downloadable content to move on. Also, including DLC in the package …
Read More »S&P puts Sony on negative credit watch
No signs that the company will come out of red soon, financial group claims
Read More »Warner sheds 60 development jobs
Warner Brothers has reduced its game development workforce across its Washington state studios, the company has confirmed. It is estimated that around sixty staff have been let go, though Warner would not confirm the number, nor which studio were affected. The firm’s Seattle-based development cluster includes three high-profile studios; Monolith …
Read More »BBFC gives unedited Modern Warfare 3 the nod, defends London level
The British Board of Film Classification has awarded Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 an 18 certificate and given it the green light without censoring its content. The certificate was granted for strong bloody battle violence”. WARNING: Potential very minor plot spoilers ahead Design features unearthed by the report include …
Read More »INTERVIEW: John Lewis
It may be one of Britain’s oldest and most reputable department stores, but John Lewis has been a poor games retailer. Our Mystery Shopper has reviewed John Lewis three times in the past 12 months, awarding scores of 1/10, 2/10 and N/A. The latter happened just last month in Stratford, …
Read More »Sledgehammer: Modern Warfare 3 not aiming to shock
Despite claims to the contrary, the developers of Call of Duty say that they do not see the use of shocking content as a marketing tool for their games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is released worldwide tomorrow, and while the mainstream media has yet to go big” on …
Read More »Best Buy UK withdrawal confirmed
It’s official – Best Buy as a brand is effectively retreating from Europe, closing all eleven of its UK stores. Simultaneously, Best Buy is buying out Carphone Warehouse in its joint US mobile business for 838 million. A statement today read: A consultation on the closure of its Best Buy …
Read More »Microsoft buyout ‘brought jubilation’ – Lionhead dev
Computing giant labelled 'saviour' after studio laid off 50 staff and scaled back projects
Read More »