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

This week’s issue of MCV is a PC gaming special, featuring interviews with a number of the biggest players in the sector. We examine the PC gaming sector, seeing what effect new technologies like VR, 4K and Steam Machines are going to have, as well as new areas of the …

A leaked letter sent to content creators has confirmed YouTube’s long-suspected plan to launch an ad-free subscription service for viewers. Your fans want choices,” the letter, obtained by Bloomberg, stated. We’re… taking another big step in favour of choice: offering fans an ad-free version of YouTube for a monthly fee. …

Packaging specialist Novobox will back this year’s MCV Awards as Table Gift Partner for the industry celebration. Novobox is glad to be among you on the night of the MCV Awards 2015 and wishes you a pleasant evening,” said CEO Jean Noel. The FuturePak metal case creator joins previously announced …

Visceral Games general manager and vice president Steve Papoutsis has left the studio after nearly 15 years with EA. Kotaku reports on the departure, with EA confirming Papoutsis’s exit earlier today. "We are thankful for Steve’s many contributions to EA and wish him the best,” the publisher said. Papoutsis worked …

Tickets for Twitch’s debut convention TwitchCon 2015 will go on sale later this week, the company has announced. The event will boast interactive events with Twitch partners, such as streams in Broadcast Pods,” co-op and competitve play together in the gaming lab, meet and greet sessions and more. Those interested …

Microsoft has announced Xbox One preview members in US and Canada can now use an over-the-air tuner to access television programs. Xbox Wire explains preview members can purchase the Hauppauge WinTV-955Q along with an HDTV antenna to gain access to the service. It runs $79.99 on Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop …

Zynga CEO Don Mattrick has departed the social games giant after less than two years, with former boss Mark Pincus reinstated as chief exec. No reason was given for Mattrick’s departure. Co-founder Mark Pincus, who is re-taking the reigns after stepping down from the role two years ago, thanks the …

'It’s time to renew our focus on our vision to make play and social games a mass market activity'

The Intel Extreme Masters and ESL One weekend in Katowice last month broke the Twitch concurrent viewership record as more than 1m people tuned in to watch. The eSports event hosted world-class tournaments for four of the most popular games in the Spodek Arena, in Katowice, Poland, over March 12-15. …

Nexon has confirmed that it is bringing its Korean online FPS Ghost in the Shell Online to the West. The free-to-play title is on track to arrive in Europe, the Americas and Australasia some time this year, with beta sign-ups to become available in June. The game itself is a …