MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
SCi Entertainment has announced that it has waived its ‘standstill’ agreement with Warner Bros until December 1st – meaning that the entertainment media giant can increase its share count to 30 per cent without consultation. According to SCi: ‘[The deal] restricts the ability of Warner Bros and its affiliates to …
Read More »Xbox: Were an online retailer
Xbox Live boss John Schappert has told MCV that Xbox Live’s role as an ‘online retailer’ is taking the pressure off the battle for High Street shelf space. Speaking in the build-up to the ‘revolutionary’ Xbox Live Dashboard update next month, Schappert said: There are games coming that would not …
Read More »‘Brace yourselves for a Q4 scrap’
We’ve heard stories of publisher execs threatened with the sack if a certain game doesn’t make the top three. And the amount of marketing cash sloshing around the industry currently is absolutely mind-boggling. Girls Aloud, Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby combined might sound like an adolescent onanist’s fantasy, but for …
Read More »Xbox Live 2.0
Why is something that’s effectively a software update being treated as so important by Microsoft? My feeling is that this is our most important day since we launched the Xbox 360. It truly does reinvent the machine. It’s our goal to turn it from a pure games machine to a …
Read More »LGF to grow beyond UK?
Ahead of London Games Festival 2008, which starts this Saturday (October 26th), the event organisers have told MCV that they want to involve all of Europe. Our long-term aim is to take it beyond the borders and make it one of the key highlights across the whole of Europe,” LGF …
Read More »Last chance to vote for the Golden Joystick Awards
This weekend is the last chance for you to have a say in this year’s Golden Joystick Awards. Voting closes at noon on Monday (October 27th) and the event has already broken records for the number of people who have taken part, with almost 800,000 nominations having been registered. The …
Read More »Army Of Two movie on the way
Universal Pictures has acquired screen rights to EA’s Army of Two, according to Variety. The US entertainment paper reports that the studio is looking to ‘fast-track’ the project to begin production in 2009 and has set The Bourne Ultimatum co-writer Scott Z. Burns to pen the script. Scott Stuber will …
Read More »Xbox Q1 profits grow 6%
Microsoft’ Entertainment and Devices division has reported a $178 million profit for its Q1 for 2008-2009. Income in the period, representing the three months to September 30th, was up 6.18 per cent for the division, which encompasses Microsoft’s Xbox, Microsoft Games Studios, Zune, Mac games and Games For Windows. The …
Read More »Livingstone slams Government attitude to games
Eidos creative director Ian Livingstone has hit out at the UK Government for its continued refusal to reward the British games development community with financial assistance. In a frank interview with The Guardian, Livingstone accused the Government of snubbing the industry in terms of deserved state investment. He said: The …
Read More »Ubisoft half-year sales hit 344m
Ubisoft has announced sales of €344 million for the first half of FY 2008-2009 – the six months to September 30th. Revenues were up 31.5 per cent on the same period in FY 2007-2008 – when Ubisoft recorded €261 million – or 38.3 per cent at constant exchange rates. Second-quarter …
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