Game industry business news

When Activision acquired Blizzard back in 2008 via its Vivendi merger, the company had just released one of the most successful and influential shooters of all time – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The popular series went stratospheric, defining its console generation (especially the Xbox 360) and making levelling …

Thanks to Chinese law, Blizzard has published the odds that gamers face every time they buy a card pack or loot box. It was reported in December that starting May 2017, developers whose games contain random loot box drops will be required to reveal the underlying odds in compliance with …

We already have Batman in 3D, and now it sounds like Marvel’s roster of superhero IP could be preparing to dive into virtual reality. We did a deep dive in looking at the [VR] space towards the end of last year, and it offers some pretty incredible opportunities, in terms …

Developer Hopoo Games has confirmed that a sequel to Risk of Rain is now in development. The 2D roguelike, which started as a student project before being backed by a successful Kickstarter, sees players struggling to survive on an alien planet. It is perhaps best known for its gradually elevating …

Ballistix have announced that they’ll be sponsoring Team Liquid, providing Ballistix gaming memory for the team’s rigs. Yesterday Team Liquid announced it was renewing its hardware partnership with Dell’s gaming brand, Alienware. It’s not clear how the two deals with interact, but presumably the deals with work in partnership together. …

Valve has pledged to work directly and transparently with the Steam community as it continues to evolve PC gaming’s largest marketplace. In a lengthy blog post, Valve has tried to explain why serving the interests of such a large and diverse group of consumers is a very tough task. One …

Publisher Deep Silver has insisted that development on Dead Island 2 is still ongoing. The last we heard from the game was over a year ago when MCV revealed that UK studio Sumo Digital had been handed development duties. "Dead Island 2 is in development at Sumo Digital, and we …

Esports franchise Team Liquid, have renewed their partnership with Alienware for 2017-2018, which extends the relationship of the two brands into its sixth year. Alienware, Dell’s gaming brand, will be providing Team Liquid with high-end gaming laptops, PC’s and other Dell tech to give Team Liquid the hardware they need …

Media specialist law firm Lee & Thompson LLP has appointed Julian Ward to the partnership. Ward was previously general counsel and head of legal for Codemasters, and has also worked for Hamlins as head of digital media, and BBC Worldwide where he headed up its business and legal affairs for …

Almost a year ago today, VR specialists nDreams announced it was to become a publisher of third-party virtual reality games, the first of which was an untitled project from the Chester-based Paw Print Games. Now we know exactly what they’ve been working on. Entitled Bloody Zombies, this 2D side-scrolling co-op …