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

Developers can now use middleware from within engine UI

Microsoft has said it wants to introduce digital midnight launch events for games on Xbox Live. Consumers are accustomed to glitzy High Street retail midnight launches, but it’s a different story online – although perhaps not for long. A Twitter user said the following to Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer: …

London tech firm adds another industry veteran to its ranks

Audio middleware available at no cost on PC, Linux and mobile under certain connditions

The creative director of Watch Dogs has revealed a new set of minimum required PC specs for upcoming title Watch Dogs. Creative director Jonathan Morin confirmed on Twitter that the game will require an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66Ghz or AMD Phenom II X4 940 3.0Ghz CPU, a 1024 …

The creator of Flappy Bird has said that he is considering re-releasing the title. Shy Vietnamese developer Dong Nguyen famously pulled surprise hit Flappy Bird from app stores last month after saying that its success was too much to bear. However, in an interview with Rolling Stone he says that …

Titanfall’s US launch was last night disrupted after a short stint of Xbox Live downtime. Microsoft’s console network experienced what the platform holder described as limited” service for around five hours last night, leaving many gamers unable to take EA’s new multiplayer shooter online. Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hyrb confirmed on …

Online stores and supermarkets failed to capitalize on mass store closures in the UK last year, as High Street stores emerged as the biggest sellers of physical video games. The latest figures – released by ERA based on Chart-Track figures – show that the likes of GAME, Argos and HMV …

PlayStation was the only console brand to increase its video games sales last year. According to ERA based on GfK Chart-Track data, the number of PS4, PS3, PS2, Vita, PSP games sold last year was 11.4m, an increase of 1.8 per cent over 2012. These games combined generated 372m, a …

PC gaming network Raptr has reached 22m members worldwide, the company has revealed. Raptr CEO Dennis Fong announced that the service is now being used in over 100 countries, adding that an average of 1.5m new players join each month – thanks in large part to the firm’s recently released …