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

Japanese publisher Square Enix has closed its Smileworks studio, which was based in Indonesia. The mobile studio was only operational for 18 months, but failed to deliver the results its parent had hoped for, reportsGames Industry. A Square Enix Japan representative has said the publisher is changing its strategy for …

The release date for Capcom’s DmC: Definitive Edition has been moved forward by a week. The remastered version of Ninja Theory’s 2013 action title will now be released on March 10th. It had previously been due to hit PS4, Xbox One and PC on March 17th. As well as running …

UPDATED: Indonesian mobile studio operational for just 18 months, Square targeting local businesses for partnerships

Blizzard has kicked off closed beta testing for its upcoming ‘online team brawler’ Heroes of the Storm. The publisher will be inviting a select number of players to try the free-to-play MOBA-like game, with sign-up available at heroesofthestorm.com. A new battleground – the desert-themed Sky Temple – and hero – …

Unity title has generated even more through in-app purchases

Free-to-play giant purchases Tapzen and Magic Pixel Games

The winners of the first ever Smite World Championships have been crowned, with American team COG Prime scooping the $1.3m prize. The US team bettered European rivals Titan in the final, although the losers still pocketed $522,452 thanks to the colossal $2.5m prize pool developer Hi-Rez Studios had previously raised …

John Broomhall talks new-gen Halo with Paul Lipson, senior audio director for 343 Industries/Microsoft Studios

Like-for-like sales in December grew 4.4 per cent at retailer GameStop, although total numbers for the nine weeks ending January 3rd were down year-on-year. Total sales for the period reached $2.95bn, down on the previous year’s $3.15bn. New hardware sales were surprisingly down 32 per cent from $1.05bn to $713m, …

A mere two days remain to getyour lobbying infor the 2015 MCV Awards. Lobbying for the 2015 MCV Awards ends thisFriday, January 16th at 5pm. That’s right – those of you wanting to put forward your suggestions for this year’s hotly-contested prizes including Games Retailer, New Games Brand, PR Team …