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

Millions of gamers are expected to spend hours exploring the latest Grand Theft Auto when it launches, but men's health experts say the biggest impact may not be on sleep alone.

Entity, a new Irish gaming distribution startup, today announced it has completed a €5 million seed round for its next-generation gaming platform which is set to launch in early 2027. Entity has embraced the latest breakthrough web technology to create the home of console-quality games for the “new web” era.  Entity is effectively replacing the need for a dedicated gaming device such as the console or PC for most games: Bringing, for the first time, instant and social game play experiences to the largest global game playing audience without the friction of downloads or installs. Entity delivers a true click and play experience for games players, anytime, anywhere and on any modern browser

Europeans will more than triple what they spend on video gaming by 2035, going from USD 27.9 billion to USD 89.9 billion. That is a compound annual growth rate of 13.9%, the fastest of any e-commerce vertical in the region and well ahead of the next two, Software-as-a-Service (8.8%) and Social Media (8.7%). Video gaming led the ranking worldwide as well, at 13.3% a year, from USD 206.1 billion to USD 633.8 billion over the same period.

CodeDev Group today announced the appointment of Ben Board as CEO of its optimisation division, The Performance Guys.

Diva Agency and Fourth Floor today announce the launch of a new tech-enabled games agency partnership, to help publishers, developers and games-adjacent brands access specialist marketing expertise across international markets. 

Leading games Quality Assurance provider Testronic is strengthening its global test floor, investing in specialist talent, leadership and commercial expertise.

Veteran game developers Harvey Smith and Ben Horne revealed Black Pony Immersive, a new game studio built to design and develop imaginative first-person action RPGs set within well-realised worlds, where players create their own memorable experiences with expressive, emergent game systems.

Premium game art production studio Mooncolony turns ten years old on the 1st of September, and to celebrate, they’re launching the first ever MoonFest.

Today sees three celebration-worthy announcements for the UK games industry: the creation of a new independent video game development studio called Pretty Cool Games, investment in the studio, and finally, the studio is hiring, providing a much-needed boost for the UK Game Development Community.

New marketplace data shows that traffic on websites related to GTA VI increased by over 6000% on 25 June compared with the average level recorded before May. Demand remained high over the following days, with average traffic between 25 and 30 June up to almost 3000% against the same baseline.