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

Killer Instinct is not a free-to-play game, a key Microsoft exec has argued. That goes against what we’d all presumed following the game’s E3 reveal. Indeed, the fact that it is free to download with premium characters available to purchase certainly seems a bit ‘free-to-play’-ey. Not so, creative director of …

Both the Steam and uPlay versions of Splinter Cell Backlist on PC have suffered some significant launch problems over the weekend. PCGamesN reports that the Steam version in several territories outside of the UK, US, Canada and Australia remains unplayable, with the ‘pre-load’ button not yet being replaced by a …

Engine enables teams to roll back innovations into single branch for use in next game cycle

Retailer GameStop has confirmed that its store managers will each receive a free PS4 console. Joystiq reports that they will also receive six PS4 games – Killzone: Shadowfall, NBA 2K14, Madden, FIFA 14, Need for Speed: Rivals and Battlefield 4. They’ll also get upcoming PS3 adventure Beyond: Two Souls. While …

Peter Moore sounds off on the importance of F2P and why it no longer delivers offline experiences

Deep Silver has claimed another UK No.1 with new release Saints Row IV topping the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 this week. The game fell short of beating the week one performance of its predecessor Saints Row: The Third, however, although it manages to become the fourth biggest …

An apparent leak from an employee at US retailer Walmart suggests Xbox One will beat PS4 to market. Kotaku has received a list of supposedly confirmed midnight openings for the chain. Included on the list is a midnight launch for the Xbox One on November 8th. That’s a week before …

Bungie’s ambitious shooter Destiny was awarded the coveted Best Game award at last week’s Gamescom 2013. That was one of four titles won by the game, the others being Best Action Game, Best Console Game and Best Online Multiplayer Game. EA was the best performing publisher, picking up four awards …

Attendance numbers of last week’s Gamescom 2013 were up an impressive 23 per cent on the 2012 event, the event’s organisers have revealed. The world’s largest video games trade expo welcomed over 340,000 people, including 635 exhibitors and 6,000 journalists from 88 countries, to its 14k square metres of exhibition …

Grand Theft Auto V became available to pre-order on the PlayStation Network this weekend, but a gaffe has left Sony in hot water. Sony Europe differs from Sony America in that it allows pre-ordered games to be pre-loaded onto a user’s machine – much like users of PC service Steam …