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

Trion Worlds MMO Defiance has made the inevitable free-to-play move on PC. The studio has made the move ahead of the premire of the associated TV series’ second series on SyFy in July. Trion says that it intends for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game to go …

Zynga’s senior VP of mobile Travis Boatman, head of acquisitions Terence Fung and studio president Steve Chiang have all left the company. As reported byVenturebeat, the departures mark a complete shake-up of the management team since theappointment of Don Mattrick as CEOnearly a year ago. Fung has now joined mobile …

Nintendo has released a DS game on the Wii U Virtual Console for the first time. Eurogamer reports that Brain Training is now available to Japanese Wii U owners who have updated their console to the latest firmware. It’s free, too, until June 30th. The two screens of the DS …

Mario Kart 8 has topped the weekly Japanese charts and boosted sales of the hardware in Nintendo’s home country. It may not have sent Wii U sales rocketing 666 per cent as it did in the UK, but the game’s arrival did double weekly Wii U sales to over 19k …

New numbers suggest the boom in eSports is showing no sign of abating. Gamasutra reports that IHS Technology data suggests 2.4bn hours of eSports were viewed throughout 2013. That’s nearly double the 1.3bn watched in 2012. Furthermore, it estimates that this will have climbed to 6.6bn hours by 2018, by …

Nine years on from Nintendogs, Sony has today finally entered the handheld virtual space. PlayStation Vita Pets, from Liverpool studio Spiral House, will later today be available to download now on PSN for €29.99 (UK price TBC). It will arrive at retail on Friday. Players can take control of one …

Crowdfunding website Kickstarter has simplified its rules for project submissions down to three basic principles in an effort to make the platform easier to use. The rules now state that projects must create something to share with others, projects must be honest and clearly presented, and that projects cannot fundraise …

UK QA firm Universally Speaking has been approved to join Microsoft’s Authorised Xbox Test Program. The scheme allows companies to test games on all the firm’s platforms – Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone. "This is a very exciting opportunity that reflects our position as one of the most …

New CEO Don Mattrick continues company restructuring

Sequoia Capital backs studio with share of new $530m fund for India and Southeast Asia start-ups