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

Blizzardhas registered a trademark for "Compete", an eSport tournament creation system. Specifically,the trademarkis for "Providing an online non-downloadable Internet-based system application featuring technology enabling users to organize and promote e-sports tournaments, to create and customize tournament brackets and ladders, track tournament progress, maintain related statistics, and post results." Read more …

Game Digital, the video games retailer, has said revenues have been held back by a sharp fall in the sale of consoles following the launches of Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Sales in the group’s hardware division were dragged down by prices of consoles falling by around a fifth, although …

Lionsgate has announced a partnership with developer Starbreeze for a virtual reality first person shooter based on 2014 action movie John Wick. Starbreeze is to act as publisher for the title, which is in development for ‘multiple’ VR platforms. A ‘teaser’ version will be ready for the launch of Valve’s …

What are games companies looking for at the moment? Develop speaks to Amiqus’ Stig Strand to see how job hunters can stand out

The sixth expansion to Blizzard’s MMO powerhouse World of Warcraft has been revealed. It’s called Legion and will feature a brand new continent called The Broken Isles. Levels caps will be upped from 100 to 110. Plus, as players level they will now unlock PvP perks via a new ‘honour …

Frank Gibeau, an EA veteran of nearly 25 years, has joined mobile gaming company Zynga. The former EA executive VP has been appointed to the publisher’s board of directors.Gibeau left EA in May this yearafter more than two decades with the company. Zynga has the products, the people and the …

The creators of the Neo Geo and series such as Metal Slug and King of Fighters are under new ownership. Siliconera reports that a Chinese firm Ledo Millennium, which was co-formed by Chinese online games company Shunrong Sanqi, has agreed to pay $63.5m to acquire an 81.25 per cent share …

Sony’s new marketing tie-up with Activision’s Call of Duty will extend to the eSports arena. Having enjoyed a marketing partnership with Xbox for many years (which included a timed exclusivity period on all DLC), Sony announced at E3 that it was now the game’s official partner. As well as the …

Publisher also nabs licensing and distribution rights to assortment of other titles

The highly impressive 100% destructible world of Microsoft’s Xbox One exclusive Crackdown 3 will be limited to the game’s online multiplayer mode. The technology was showcased at Gamescom this week, but relies on the extra processing power of the cloud to make it all possible. As a result, the environment …