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

Notch – the man behind indie juggarnaut Minecraft – has purchased the most expensive house ever in Beverly Hills. 35-year-old Markus ‘Notch’ Persson dropped $70 million on the mansion, which includes a 54-foot glass door (that opens automatically), infinity pool, multiple bars, screening room and water fountains controlled via iPad. …

Computerandvideogames.com will close, Future has confirmed. It follows news of several redundancies at the firm, including the website’s editor last week. CVG was a hugely popular brand in the UK and is a games media icon that has lasted 33 years. Future will now add news and reviews content – …

Injustice, Saints Row DLC dev creating 80 new jobs with second office

Warner’s Batman: Arkham Knight is UK retail’s most anticipated game of 2015. The upcoming title was highlighted by 14 per cent of the stores MCV spoke to for our retail survey. Halo 5 was nominated by 10 per cent of retailers. Meanwhile, Evolve, The Order 1886 and Uncharted 4: A …

Of all the things that retailers want in 2015, their number one desire is for more games. 28 per cent of the stores MCV spoke to for our retail survey said that the thing it wanted most in 2015 was for some actual software to sell. This comes after a …

UK stores said Black Friday was their biggest challenge of 2014. 32 per cent of stores surveyed said that the sales event proved difficult. Retailers felt they were unable to logistically cope with the sheer volume of customers. Physical stores were overwhelmed by footfall, while websites were unable to cope …

UK games retailers expect the showdown between PS4 and Xbox One in 2015 to go down to the wire. In MCV’s annual retail survey, 55 per cent of respondents tipped PS4 to end next year on-top, while 41 per cent backed Xbox One (the remainder went for other hardware). Yet …

Mojang founder Markus Persson buys house for $70m, outbids Beyoncé and Jay Z

As this year draws to a close, MCV takes a look at the merchandise already hitting store shelves ahead of 2015’s biggest game releases What a year 2014 has been for video games. We’ve had two biggest-ever new IP launches – Watch Dogs in May, which was then topped in …

Bandai Namco Games has changed its name to Bandai Namco Entertainment. It’s a subtle change but one that is actually more significant than when it altered its name from Namco Bandai to Bandai Namco. The dropping of the word ‘games’ for ‘entertainment’ reflects the firm’s efforts to expand beyond just …