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

Acclaimed writer heading up new Star Wars title

Upcoming title LEGO The Hobbit will expand to encompass all three of Peter Jackson’s films, a new report claims. The Warner title arrives in the UK on April 11th with content from both the first film An Unexpected Journey and last year’s The Desolation of Smaug. Brick Fanatics, however, reckons …

The latest issue also features Sucker Punch's stunning PS4 game InFamous: Second Son, a look at Finland's booming start-up scene and cloud gaming

Organiser Koelnmesse is hosting its pre-Gamescom 2014 press meet at UKIE’s London office. With informal presentations on market developments and plans for this year’s event on the agenda, the roadshow takes place on Wednesday April 23rd at 2:00pm. "Featuring the business and entertainment areas, GDC Europe and the Gamescom city …

Microsoft’s ongoing work with Xbox One’s development tools is helping its machine catch up with the until now superior technical performance of PS4. That’s according to Oddworld Inhabitants co-founder Lorne Lanning, who told Xbox Achievements that: So I would say, months ago, there was a wider gap. But I don’t …

14 employees have lost their jobs at developer Airtight Games. The studio is currently working on Square Enix title Murdered: Souls Suspect. Its previous games include Quantum Conundrum and Dark Void. "We regret to confirm that we have laid off 14 staff members yesterday afternoon as part of a necessary …

While the effect of Amazon’s new Fire TV on the general gaming market is still to be determined, the device appears to be in direct competition with similarly priced microconsoles. Ouya, for its part, doesn’t appear to be worried about the prospect. Speaking with Games Industry, company CEO Julia Uhrman …

Reserach group SuperData has released a new brief on eSports viewership, revealing rapid growth within the medium. According to the brief, over 70m individuals tuned in worldwide – with 31.4m coming from the US alone. SuperData reports worldwide viewership has doubled in the last year. eSports are a rapidly growing …

Former Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig has joined Visceral Games to develop EA’s new Star Wars title, the studio has confirmed. In a post on EA’s The Beat blog, Visceral general manager Steve Papoutsis announced Hennig’s appointment. She’ll assume the role of creative director on EA’s currently unannounced Star …

Amplitude's Romain De Waubert guides us through releasing a game during alpha stage, and why it suited the studio's latest title Dungeon of the Endless