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

Namco Bandai has revealed pre-orders for Dark Souls II are 50 per cent up on its predecessor. And this is before the publisher’s main ad campaign kicks in. The firm has put a massive 1m into marketing the game to a mainstream audience. We have everything going for Dark Souls …

Fears of a negative sales impact mean that it’s likely to be some time before a triple-A game is released featuring an openly gay character. That’s according to Ubisoft Montreal’s lead writer Lucien Soulban. So when are we going to see that gay protagonist in a triple-A game? Not for …

Payday 2 performs strongly to generate profits after accumulated company losses of £8.8m in previous 15 years

Starbreeze has revealed the extent of its remarkable turnaround. Joystiq reports that the studio’s CEO Bo Andersson-Klint has revealed that between 1998 and 2013 the developer incurred a loss of KR 94m ($14.43m). In its last two quarters it has, thanks to the introduction of a new business model and …

Streaming specialist Twitch says it could become a new platform for games developers following the incredible reaction to ‘Twitch Plays Pokmon’. The social experiment has seen tens of millions of gamers tune into Twitch to play a single game of Pokmon Red. To play, users simply enter the command they …

Supermassive’s Dave Shillito discusses the key skills needed for his role in sound design

BetaDwarf, Brain in a Jar, Four Door Lemon, No Goblin and Spry Fox sign up to develop games for Xbox One

Game industry told to commit to providing solutions 'within a clear timeframe so as to ensure proper consumer protection for apps customers'

Minecraft creator Markus Persson is in discussion with Warner Bros over a Minecraft movie, he has announced. The Mojang boss made the reveal in a Twitter post on Thursday: "Someone is trying leak the fact that we’re working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be …

The ability to advertise free-to-play titles as ‘free’ is under threat thanks to a new European Commission initiative. The EC is meeting with consumer groups in the UK, France and Italy and major market players such as Apple and Google to discuss consumer concerns regarding the F2P market. Chief amongst …