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

Publisher will shut down mobile developer this month

Activision’s Leeds-based mobile developer will close by the end of the month, the publisher has said. The Blast Furnace’s 47 staff face redundancy, although the company has told us that it is seeking new homes for some of the employees. Activision revealed in January it was ‘exploring options’ for the …

Obsidian Entertainment believes its new online military combat title can hold its own against Wargaming’s world-dominating World of Tanks. Announced today at GDC, Armored Warfare is an PC title that puts players in command of modern day tanks and pits them against other players, or against AI-controlled enemies in a …

2013 was a bumper year for the UK games media, but who came out on top? MCV has obtained the latest ComScore stats for the last 12 months, which shows that – perhaps unsurprisingly – IGN was the top UK video games website by a huge margin. It’s also a …

Microsoft’s Xbox One has been the best-selling games console for four weeks in a row, MCV understands. The machine has benefited from a 30 price cut, while the launch of Titanfall last week caused a surge in console sales of 96 per cent. But retailers have told MCV that PS4 …

This is a brave new world for games retail. Gamers have become accustomed to paying more for digital titles, despite the fact that logic should dictate that a digital product – which is free of material, logistics and distribution costs – should retail for less. But that may no longer …

BioWare gameplay designer Manveer Heir has called for a revolution in the way video games depict the world and tackle the issue of identity. Polygon reports that in an impassioned speech greeted with applause at GDC, Heir argued that video games – like any other creative industry – are not …

An upcoming update to PS4 will allow users to lower the light emitted from their DualShock 4 controllers. GameTrailers journalist Geoff Keighley had claimed on Twitter that users would be able to shut off the light completely, but he was corrected by Sony Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida who clarified that …

Developing one of the first big games for a new console must be a daunting task. It’s all been quiet on the PS4 since its debut back in November with Thief the only notable title to hit Sony’s console this year. And it’s not just PS4 owners that have suffered. …

It may have missed The Budget, but tax breaks for UK games developers will go ahead, MCV can reveal. High-level industry sources have told MCV that the European Commission has told UK Government officials that subsidies for production are approved, after a long-running investigation into whether they were really needed. …