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

Blizzard has said that the next Hearthstone expansion will be called Blackrock Mountain and will be released in April. The single player expansion will follow the pattern laid down by the first expansion, Curse of Naxxramas, in releasing a new ‘wing’ week-by-week. Unlike Naxxrama, however, the first wing will not …

We round-up all of the biggest announcements from this year's Game Developers Conference

Microsoft has said that it will not lock the Windows 10 Xbox Live app behind a Gold subscription paywall. The confirmation came from Major Nelson on Twitter, who told a fan that: Xbox Live Gold will not be required for online multiplayer gaming using our service on Windows 10 PCs …

Warner Bros and Techland’s open world zombie title Dying Light once again takes pole position in the GfK Chart-Track Top 40. It keeps the top spot in spite of a 48 per cent decline in sales this week. The game has so far managed to outpace the other new IPs …

Wizards of the Coast is to make the next instalment in its Magic: The Gathering series free-to-play. Magic Duels: Origins boasts a number of new features such as integrated deck construction assistance, an endless single player mode, some new multiplayer modes, a community Quest system and an enhanced tutorial system. …

11 bit Studio’s wartime sim This War of Mine is in development for iPad devices, the developer has revealed. Touch Arcade has the first look at the game’s mobile edition, which is expected out on the Apple App Store later this year. The indie studio promises an identical experience to …

Epic Games has revealed the first three Unreal Dev Grant recipients, with each developer gaining at least $15,000 in funding. Last month, Epic announced a new scheme that would have it handing out up to $5m in grants for developers using Unreal Engine 4, and this week the studio made …

Award-winning PC indie game Gone Home is no longer in development for consoles, developer Fullbright has confirmed. Gone Home creator Steve Gaynor stated as much to Eurogamer, explaining that Fullbright’s deal with struggling publisher Majesco and its now presumably defunct indie publishing arm Midnight City has come to a close …

France continues to experience a healthy games sector, bolstered by growth in physical retail and online. French industry trade body SELL states that €2.7 billion was generated by the country’s video game market in 2014, with €1.9 billion contributed by physical hardware, software and accessories. Software made up the lion’s …

Leading games conference returns to San Francisco from March 14th to 18th next year