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

Rock Band will finally crack Europe this year, publisher Mad Catz has told MCV @ Gamescom. The Harmonix-developed series is a huge seller, but has struggled to compete with Guitar Hero outside of the US market. We think Rock Band has the potential to find a far bigger audience in …

The current generation of handheld games consoles will persist for up to another three years in Europe and the US, publisher NISA has predicted. Takuro Yamashita, president and CEO of NIS America, told MCV @ Gamescom that while publishers should be looking to transition from PS3 and Xbox 360 to …

Ninja Theory says games companies need to tackle difficult topics if the industry wants to be held in the same regard as other forms of entertainment. The UK developer is currently working on Hellblade, the story of a warrior traumatised by Viking attacks on her homeland. The game will explore …

Xbox boasts that it has a game to suit every European territory. EMEA boss Neil Thompson stopped short of saying the company could take the No.1 position from PlayStation, which is currently dominating sales across the territory. But he did tell MCV @ Gamescom that the line-up for Christmas 2015 …

Mega Man spiritual successor Mighty No. 9 has suffered another delay due to its currently bug-plagued state. MCVreported last month that retailers had pushed the game’s release to Q1 2016, and developer Comcept has nowconfirmedthe delay with backers. According to the studio, the reason for the delay is due to …

Nintendo has announced The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes will launch on 3DS devices this October. The game will arrive in Australia, Europe and North America on October 23rdfor Nintendo’s current handheld. Curiously, the Japanese release window for the time being remains a vague second half of 2015.” Tri …

PS4-exclusive Driveclub has sold in excess of 2m copies, developer Evolution has announced. The studio revealed the figure for its racing title on Twitter, sharing an image of an in-game custom made award celebrating the milestone. Game director Paul Rustchynsky clarified that the number was reached prior to the Driveclub’s …

Microsoft has teamed up with Seagate to offer a hard drive specifically designed for either the Xbox One or Xbox 360. The drive offers 2TB of additional storage and is coloured in brand-appropriate Xbox green. It also carries the Xbox logo. The US price is just $110, with availability kicking …

Publisher Nordic has continued its buying spree by acquiring a range of IPs from BitComposer Entertainment. The company now owns not only the Jagged Alliance brand but also Giana Sisters, Panzer Tactics, Citadels, Bridge Project and North and South. The decision to acquire Jagged Alliance was an absolute no-brainer for …

Here’s an interesting observation – Xbox One owners can as of this week play more N64 games on their system than Wii U owners. As pointed out by Kotaku, the release of Rare Replay this week brings seven N64 title to the console: Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Conker’s Bad Fur …