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

InMCV’s weekly round-up of the latest personnel news and hottest job opportunities, Activision hires Ubisoft’s Rachael Grant and we look at the best positions available. Just Dance UK brand manager takes on Skylanders Rachael Grant has joined Activision as UK brand manager for Skylanders. Grant comes from an extensive background …

Electronic Arts is giving a slice of the cash raised by its current Humble Bundle to UK games industry charity GamesAid. Found at HumbleBundle.com, the pay-what-you-want download package includes some of the biggest games in EA Origin’s catalogue, including Dead Space and Dead Space 3, Crysis 2, the 2010 Medal …

While the company still has 8m people paying subscriptions for World of Warcraft, it recognises that free-to-play gaming can’t be ignored. When asked about creating free-to-play MMOs in the future, WoW’s lead designer Tom Chilton told Polygon that his team is open to the idea, but remains cautious. "For Blizzard …

Develop asks what Vicon's new head-mounted facial capture rig means for games

Sam Fisher may have snuck back onto shelves today in Splinter Cell Blacklist, but there’s one title Tom Clancy fans are still waiting for. Rainbow Six: Patriots was first announced back in November 2011, but nobody has seen much from it since. It was noticeably absent from Ubisoft’s line-ups at …

Beyond: Two Souls will not feature a black screen if players die

Gamescom Dailies not enough for you? Fear not – you can download your weekly dose of MCV right here. For those who are still not satisfied by not one, not two but three special daily editions of MCV to coincide with the world’s biggest games show, this week’s issue is …

At Gamescom, Sony announced a PS4 pre-launch promotion for PlayStation Plus, which would give subscribers 90 days extra on a one-year subscription. That promotion is live now on the Indian store. The annual PlayStation Plus subscription is priced at Rs 2,950 and entitles PS3, PS Vita and (once it launches) …

The electronics giant and Xbox firm has announced that CEO Steve Ballmer will retire within the next 12 months. Ballmer will retain his position until a successor is chosen, after which he will leave Microsoft. "There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the …

Computing firm boss to leave within 12 months