Publishing

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was bigger in its first week than Call of Duty: Ghosts. That’s according to Activision based on GfK Chart-Track figures and its internal digital numbers. We are still awaiting the official report from the stat tracker to confirm the claim. It’s actually a little hard …

Blizzard’s weekend announcements included news of another expansion to card battler Hearthstone. While the previous Curse of Naxxramas update introduced a single player component, the new Goblins vs Gnomes focuses on the core multiplayer game by introducing 120 new cards. The cards can be won in the Arena mode or …

Five years on from its last proper console release, the Tony Hawk series will return next year. I’m currently working with Activision on a console game for 2015 (along with a new mobile game),” the pro skater said. I think fans of THPS series will be hyped.” However, the previously …

As an important part of the games industry, the QA and localisation sphere is subject to the same changes that the entire sector is experiencing. For example, the shift in the ways that games are distributed these days has been a challenge for the way QA firms operate. Where before …

Blizzard is a developer that likes to pride itself on making some epic games. World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft… the studio’s biggest IP are giants in their genres, with triple-A production values. Hearthstone, the firm’s first free-to-play foray, is different. It’s a collectible card game that doesn’t require any high-end …

Social gaming veteran says new not-quite-an-incubator will fuel his next projects

Ok, so as it turns out, even a quiet year for Call of Duty can be quite noisy. The mainstream media all popped up with big news articles about the game. MCV even conducted two radio interviews to mark the game’s arrival. Yet this was a quieter year for Call …

We caught up with Chris Charla, Director of the ID@Xbox program at PAX Australia, to look at some of the new Aussie and international games to hit the platform

Square Enix saw significant revenue and profits increases in its most recent six-month fiscal period, the publisher’s latest financial results show. Mobile titles Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light and Schoolgirl Strikers were among the products mentioned as major revenue drivers for the period, with MMOs Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon …

Minecraft creator Mojang is now a Microsoft company. The news was confirmed by Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who said: It’s official, today we welcome Mojang to the Microsoft Studios family. We’re excited for the possibilities ahead with the Minecraft community.” The $2.5bn acquisition was announced in September, with a Mojang …