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

Gamers who pre-order either the physical or digital version of Grand Theft Auto V on PC will get a free game download. Buying the game before February 1st via Rockstar (who take a 15 per cent deposit at the time or offering and the rest upon release) nets one free …

Rockstar’s best-selling crime title has held onto the top spot in spite of a sales decline. Sales of Grand Theft Auto V dipped by 29 per cent week-on-week, according to GfK Chart-Track data. Unsurprisingly, the lion’s share of these sales came from November’s next-gen re-release. 52 per cent of units …

Which was the best selling franchise in 2014 – Disney Infinity or Skylanders? That all depends on who you ask. GameSpot reports that Disney cites NPD data in claiming that its Disney Infinity IP was the stronger of the two, with November/December sales up 16 per cent year-on-year and its …

Sony has revealed which games and DLC on the PlayStation Store were big hits last year, with Destiny and Minecraft topping the rankings. Posted on the US PlayStation Blog, the charts show that Activision’s sci-fi shooter Destiny attracted the most downloads on PS4, with ever-popular block-building hit Minecraft the most …

Blizzard has outlined how players will be able to qualify for the 2015 Hearthstone World Championship. Widely expected to take place at Blizzcon in the autumn, entry will this year be decided by a qualification points system. Four players from each region (Europe, The Americas, China and Asia-Pacific) will now …

UK-based Swede Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjelberg was the single most watched person on YouTube in 2014. The Guardian reports that his videos were watched 4.1bn times over the year, a period at the end of which he boasted 33.5m subscribers. This time last year he had 20.9m. There may be signs …

The high-flyers on our MCV Brit List: Women in Games Top 100 are now revealed. 100 women working in the UK games industry from almost 100 different studios, divisions or companies have made it to the list – chosen by a judging panel of over 50 UK games industry executives. …

Back in May last year, MCV ran a story that announced Future was planning to close Computerandvideogames.com. It came as a shock. CVG was not only very good, it was also still hugely popular. What’s more, Future had only just invested in a new CVG website. There was a backlash …

Uk developer UsTwo has revealed that revenues generated by Monument Valley have hit $5.8m. That’s four times more than the $1.4m it cost to develop both the original game and its Forgotten Shores expansion which, incidentally, racked up 575,608 sales, accounting for 1 in 5 Monument Valley players. Total sales …

A teenager from Merseyside has been arrested in connection to DDoS attacks on PSN and Xbox Live. Sky News reports that a joint operation between the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU)and the FBI led to the arrest on suspicion of unauthorised access to computer material and making threats …