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

Games The Shop held a midnight launch for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag in Mumbai last night. The launch witnessed a healthy turnout as fans showed up to pick up the game along with a host of merchandise that the retailer was giving away, including t-shirts, bags, posters and keychains. …

Entertainment retailer Blockbuster is to enter administration for the second time in the UK. Current owner Gordon Brothers says the move arrives on the back of what it describes as poor trading” in the UK. The chain first entered administration back in January, threatening its 528 stores and 4,190 workers. …

Writer and comic (and former games journalist) Charlie Brooker is to host a new TV show about video games. It’s called How Video Games Changed The World and will be aired on Channel 4 at the end of November as part of a themed night dedicated to video games. Endemol’s …

Having built and acquired some blockbuster brands, Koch Media has seen itself move from the supplier of niche PC and Wii titles to a global player in both video games and movies. MCV speaks to CEO and founder Klemens Kundratitz to discover exactly how the European giant has changed, and …

Take-Two needs to adapt its strategy to lessen its reliance on High Street retail, one analyst has claimed. The publisher will this week likely announce that it has shipped an eye-watering 21.5m copies of Grand Theft Auto V, with revenue ahead of forecasts. Yet despite this, VG247 quotes HIS Electronics …

Microsoft has confirmed some changes to its Xbox Live Terms Of Use that seem to enable data sharing with commercial partners. The new TOU also requires that users commit to keeping their contact information up to date”. The statement: From time to time, we update and add to the features …

For the first time in 11 years Apple has posted an annual decline in earnings. Profits for its most recent financial year came in at $37bn, down from $42bn the year before. Revenue for the year hit $171bn, up from last year’s $157bn. Despite this, fourth quarter profit was ahead …

Rumours doing the rounds about development difficulties with the Xbox One’s operating system are untrue, according to Microsoft. As well as a rush of whispers and gossip regarding alleged resolution disparities between third party titles on PS4 and Xbox One, there has been a developing narrative claiming that bugs in …

Reviewers have heaped praise on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which has arrived on some formats today. Stores opened their doors last night for the release of the game on Xbox 360 and PS3. The game’s ‘second’ release will arrive on November 22nd when it is released for PS4, …

Alex Fleetwood tells Develop about putting play back in the hands of players, his fascination with real-world games and how digital technology can enhance them