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

Daybreak Game Company purges two studios, loses EverQuest development director

Rebranded developer Daybreak Game Company has cjob losses at its San Diego and Austin studios. It was announced last week that Daybreak was the new name for Sony Online Entertainment, following its acquisition by Columbus Nova. To better position our newly independent studio for future growth opportunities and to deliver …

A new study on YouTube gaming franchises draws one inevitable conclusion: There’s Minecraft, and there’s everyone else. NewZoo and Octoly’s infographic (shown below) ranks the top 20 gaming franchises on the popular video-sharing website, and it’s little surprise to see Mojang’s title out in front. Research also shows that 96.6 …

Mobile studio Proletariat has raised $6m in a Series A funding round, led by Oculus investor Spark Capital. FirstMark Capital and Atlas Ventures make up the other major investment companies in the round – Firstmark is notable for having backed League of Legends developer Riot Games since the studios’ early …

January’s live streaming charity event Awesome Games Done Quick raised $1.58m for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, organizers have announced. Awesome Games Done Quick is a Twitch-based marathon run of top gamers attempting record-breaking speedruns of classics such as Mario and Zelda games, along with other amazing feats like playing through …

Event will discuss how to recruit and retain a diverse team

A workshop in London next week will focus on how to recruit and retain a gender-balanced workforce. The event is hosted by Next Gen Skills Academy and follows up on its Gender Balanced Workforce Survey, the results of which were published last month. Key areas of discussion include analysing the …

Train Simulator developer Dovetail Games has revealed that it recently welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron to its offices. It was all part of the PR drive for the government’s Help to Grow scheme, which is designed to help fast-growing businesses secure better financing. Businesses like Dovetail Games are a crucial …

PS4 Remote Play is now possible on a number of non-Sony Android smartphones. Sony’s official PS4 Remote Play app allows owners of supported Xperia handsets to stream games from their console. However, Polygon reports that an unofficial version of the app brings this functionality to a wide range of non-Sony …

Mobile-first ad platform interacts with over 100m players six times per day