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

Developer NetherRealm has said that the female characters in Mortal Kombat X will be more realistically proportioned than in previous games. "The mantra for this game has always been realism, heading towards a more realistic look," production manager Spiro Anagnostakos said, as reported by GameSpot. "So the same thing applies …

Zynga’s troubles to adapt to a mobile-led market continue, with its 2014 fiscal results showing a net loss of $226m. Of this, $129m was attributed to stock-based expenses, $7m to income tax benefit and $24m to the expense of its ongoing restructuring. Revenues came in at $690m for the year …

Spending on Candy Crush Saga is in decline. The Guardian reports that quarterly spending on the smartphone hit was in decline throughout 2014, although the game’s in-app purchases still generated $1.33bn and has almost certainly passed lifetime revenues of $3bn. However, having peaked in Q3 2013 at $551m, the game’s …

The founder of 3D printing specialist MakieLab, Taylor says her career in games began at the age of 11, when she would map directions for the Acornsoft title Sphinx Adventure on the back of a roll of wallpaper. Driven primarily by fun, Taylor picks her proudest moments as also including …

An intellectual property lawyer, Rajendra has a specialism in IP relating to interactive entertainment and its technologies, and works with multiple gaming clients to advise on all types of gaming IP issues. Her video games history education particularly arose as a result of one particular infringement case, where she was …

A handful of tickets are still available for our Women of the Year awards, which take place on the afternoon of February 19th. Just over a week ago we revealed our Top 100 Women in Games– and has proven to be one of the most popular features we’ve published. Three …

Books based on video games were worth 14.5m in 2014, a rise of almost 10m year-on-year. Book tracker Nielsen revealed this massive increase in sales was down to the incredible success of Minecraft books. Minecraft strategy books and annuals made up seven places in the Top Ten books based on …

Sales of toys based on video games fell 14 per cent in 2014, NPD has told MCV. The decline is almost entirely down to a drop in popularity of Moshi Monsters products. NPD tells MCV that if Moshi Monsters was discounted from all of its numbers (now and historically), then …

In its ongoing quest for complete transparency about in-app purchases, Apple has added the new Pay Once & Play category to the App Store. Styled like one of the marketplace’s regular promotions, the section recommends premium mobile games that do not contain any form of microtransaction. Examples included include mobile …

CEO Dan O'Leary talks us through the studio's partnership with the Warframe dev for new RPG Sword Coast Legends