Publishing

Staff claim publisher probably always planned to close studio since last year's layoffs

Sure, this recent spate of ‘digital terrorism’ has gone after community databases and arguably minor details. But the bigger question it poses about what happens to important personal and financial data must be heard by publishers. And the answer isn’t a quick ‘bung a security firm a hundred grand to …

Upcoming XBLA title Trenched has been blocked from release due to a trademark dispute with a board game. Eurogamer reports that the game clashes with trademarks held by an abstract Portuguese board game Trench. The trademark was filed by Trench’s designer Rui Alpio Monteiro in 2007 and covers both board …

Disney is closing its UK games development studio the publisher has confirmed to Develop this morning. Black Rock, the racing studio it bought from Climax in late 2006, will close after five years of Disney ownership. 40 remaining staff will be made redundant – the studio had already laid off …

Two former Sony development stalwarts, Leo Cubbin and Phil Gaskell, have joined forces to create a new digital publisher that offers indie teams an alternative route to market. RebelPlay has already signed up two products – although no firm details have yet been announced. These projects are being aimed at …

Spanish developer Novarama has penned a new deal with Sony that will see the studio’s future content released exclusively on Sony devices. Novarama was the team behind PSP release Invizimals and is currently working on PS Vita launch title Reality Fighters – a game that will now be tied to …

Invizimals studio enters strategic partnership with Sony

Sony president and CEO Sir Howard Stringer has claimed that the company was targeted by hackers because it was trying to protect its IP. Speaking to shareholders in Tokyo, the exec was questioned about the PSN security breach that resulted in the theft of millions of users’ personal and payment …

Microsoft has questioned whether stereoscopic 3D gaming is something that players really want. While Sony has offered PS3 players a variety of 720p stereoscopic 3D-compatible games for use on 3D TVs, Microsoft hasn’t pushed the technology as much for Xbox 360. Gamers can currently play 360 titles such as Black …

There could be more map packs in the works for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Treyarch’s studio head David Vonderhaar hinted that the latest entry in the best-selling FPS franchise could break the series’ tradition and release more than three DLC add-ons. Speaking to Digital Spy, he said: I can’t …