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

DeNA has said that all of the games it currently has in development for Nintendo will be free-to-play. However, it seems that at least one – and possibly more – of the five titles that have been agreed to between the pair will be a premium release. The Wall Street …

A number of games industry members have been honoured by BAFTA as some of this year’s most talented entertainment business newcomers in the UK. Alien Isolation senior game designer Catherine Woolley, who also worked on the Harry Potter games at EA, joined The Escapists developer Christopher Davis, Batman Arkham Knight …

Rodea the Sky Soldier comes out on Wii U this Friday, but its maker has warned against playing it. Instead, Sonic creator Yuji Naka has advised fans to instead play the Wii version. Which was never released! Fortunately, NIS America is bundling the Wii version of the game with the …

Former GameSpot editor Guy Cocker is joining Haymarket’s tech publication Stuff. Cocker will be serving as the publication’s global editor-in-chief, replacing Will Findlater who is moving to Bike Radar as its global editor-in-chief. He starts on December 2nd. Cocker has been working in games and tech journalism for nearly ten …

Chinese internet gaming giant Tencent has reported significant increases to its profits and revenues for the quarter ending September. Net income climbed 32 per cent year-on-year to $1.2bn. Revenues increased by 34 per cent to $4.18bn. Overall online game revenues grew 28 per cent while smartphone revenues jumped 60 per …

YouTube star Jade Jolie will deal with extreme weather conditions in a publicity stunt for Rise of the Tomb Raider. Jolie will be taking part in the ‘Survival Billboard’, a 24-hour live stream where viewers will be able to determine what extreme weather conditions she endures. This starts tomorrow, and …

Time changes things. Ken Hoang, known to Melee fans simply as Ken, was a monster. In the early days of Melee, Ken was a force in the scene. Smart, skilled, and driven, he won nearly every tournament he attended between 2002 and 2007, talking trash and taking down every opponent …

Engine firm launches new study into how both developers and players perceive in-game ads

In terms ofesportsgame developers and publishers, it doesn’t get much bigger than Activision Blizzard—just thinkStarCraft,Hearthstone, andCall of Duty. With its new new esports division, the company is taking a serious look at the future of the industry and what it will mean for the company and its gaming titles. The …

The decline of Call of Duty is a well documented phenomenon. The only problem is, it looks like sales are back on the up. Activision has revealed that retail sales of Black Ops III are up both on last year’s Advanced Warfare and 2013’s commercially disappointing Ghosts. Digital sales of …