MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry

Payday 2’s controversial microtransactions have been scrapped as part of a deal that sees developer Starbreeze assume complete control of the franchise. The Swedish studio has said that it has acquired the full rights to the game from 505, which itself acquired a financial stake in the developer in early …

The MD of UK developer Hello Games has revealed that he has received death threats following the confirmation that No Man’s Sky has been delayed until August. The game will now arrive in the UK on August 12th, two days after it rolls out in the rest of Europe on …

Blizzard’s new IP Overwatch debuts at the top spot in the UK. The shooter is the publisher’s fastest-selling console game to yet. 47 per cent of physical sales were for PlayStation 4; 36 per cent for Xbox and a sizeable 18 per cent of sales were for PC. Uncharted 4: …

Twitch has announced Clips; a new feature that allows viewers to save 30 second video clips from any live stream. When something amazing happens on stream, all users have to do is press the Clip button, this will save the previous 25 seconds of the stream along with the next …

ELEAGUE, the $1.4 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition, hit US TV network TBS for the first time on Friday and averaged 509,000 total viewers. According to ELEAGUE’S official stats, the show was the second most discussed program of the night on Twitter, with over 710 million impressions on the social …

Digital game sales around the world rose by five per cents, reaching $6.2bn according to research firm SuperData. The company says that digital console saw the fastest growth, with a 23 per cent spike in revenue year-on-year. Meanwhile, audience rose 15 per cent. Mobile, MMO and PC games also saw …

Chinese gaming giant Tencent has spent around 14.3m to acquire a five per cent share of Paradox Interactive. The deal values the company at approximately 286m. Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester stays on as a key shareholder with a 33.3 per cent share of the company. Investment firm Splitan owns 30.5 …

Creative Assembly’s latest strategy release has broken a Total War sales record. Total War: Warhammer, published by Sega, has since its release earlier this week racked up sales of over half a million units, making it the fastest ever selling title in the franchise. Total War: Warhammer has already proven …

Square Enix’s take on the Minecraft series Dragon Quest Builders is set for a Western release. In a post on the PlayStation blog, Square Enix community manager Dan Seto says that Builders is coming to both PlayStation 4 and Vita in October. The PS4 SKU is getting both a boxed …

Developer Big Ant Studios has revealed a new entry in its popular cricket series, which is set for a December release. Don Bradman Cricket 17 is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The studio says that this title will feature a new lighting system, as well as photo-realistic …