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

Retail giant Amazon has agreed to buy Twitch for $970m in cash. The retail giant swoops in for the firm, which was widely believed to have been an acquisition target for Google. Twitch is a major live-streaming platform for games, and one that has benefited hugely from eSports. It is …

Borderlands and Civilization titles dominated Steam’s top sellers chart for the past week, thanks to promotional events revolving around 2K Games’ catalog. Borderlands 2 took the top spot, with pre-orders for Borderlands: The Presequle coming in third. Similarly, Civilization V: Complete Edition finished in the runner-up position, while pre-orders for …

Open-world crime thriller The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is set to launch next month on Windows PC, developer The Astronauts have announced. The title will launch September 25th on Steam and GOG, with the studio already taking pre-orders for both distributors via the game’s official website. The Vanishing of Ethan …

Nintendo 3DS title Pokemon Art Academy will arrive in North America this fall. A press release posted on Business Wire reveals the game will launch in US and Canadian shops alongside a digital release on the Nintendo eShop in October. The game works with players on various aspects of art, …

It turns out everyone in the games industry is getting buckets of ice cold water thrown over their heads. The whole thing is designed to support ALS, in an effort to raise awareness of the motor neurone disease. And some cash, as well. Plenty of games industry folk have done …

A series of sustained distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks across a number of games including including MMOs RuneScape and Eve Online have caused widespread server disruption for players. RuneScape developer Jagex posted on the game’s forum warning users not to participate in dangerous/high-risk content such as PvP or high level PvM”, …

EA has released a FIFA 15 video of a showdown between Liverpool and Manchester City. That same match – albeit at the Etihad Stadium as opposed to Anfield as depicted here – takes place this Monday. EA’s recreation sees the match finish 1-1 at full time, although Man City go …

Troubled microconsole Ouya is making a push for the Asian market through a new partnership with Xiaomi Inc, a Chinese smartphone manufactuer. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman toldReutersthat while details are still being finalised, it’s likely that the device will get a dedicated channel on Xiami’s streaming boxes and smart TVs, …

Disruption affects a number of online games, also reported to include League of Legends and ArenaNet

EA is offering two days of free access to Titanfall on PC. It comes as part of the publisher’s Origin Game Time initiative. PC owners with Origin installed are able to download the game for free and, once loaded up for the first time, play it for nothing for 48 …