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

Hipster Whale’s Crossy Road is currently beating some of the biggest names in the mobile market in terms of active players. Touch Arcade reports that App Annie data suggests Crossy Roads had more active players during Q1 2015 in the UK than either Clash of Clans or Candy Crush Soda …

Japanese gaming firm Gree International has shut down its studio in Vancouver, Canada, laying off all staff and discontinuing development on all of the team’s projects. The studio’s closure followsa poor financial year for Gree. Andrew Sheppard, the firm’s Western COO, added that the company’s resources are stretched too thin …

Capcom has confirmed a precise release date for Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition. The PS4, Xbox One and Steam title will arrive in both Europe and North America on June 23rd. It’ll cost 19.99 on all three platforms, the Capcom blog states. There are also assorted pre-order perks – …

Square Enix is bringing one of its RPG cult classics to Nintendo’s current handheld. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King was first released in 2004 for PS2 (in Japan, at least – it didn’t arrive in Europe until 2006) but is now being ported to 3DS. It has …

The first of ESL’s season of Dota tournaments begins next month with ESL One Frankfurt taking over the Commerzbank-Arena. A total of $1m is on the line across at least three events this year, with two more to be announced shortly, and the first $250,000 up for grabs on the …

The cross-over between casual phenomenon Puzzle and Dragons and Nintendo’s Mario IP is, unsurprisingly, a chart-topping combination in Japan. According to the latest data from Famitsu, Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros Edition for 3DS was the best-selling title in the Japanese retail rankings last week. The game’s popularity helped …

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Japan could soon be home to its second billion dollar mobile franchise. GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons currently stands alone as the nation’s single seven-figure mobile hero, but VentureBeat reports that Mixi’s Monster Strike currently makes $3.8m per day and has, since its launch in October 2013, been downloaded over 30m …

It probably doesn’t qualify as free-to-play, but Nintendo is again tinkering with payment models, this time with the release of a new Pullblox game. Siliconera reports that Pushmo: Hippaland can be downloaded on 3DS for free. For 500 (around 2.67) players can then grab another 100 levels. Three further 50 …