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

Oculus VR has hired a second developer from Id Software. GameFront reports that Matt Hooper, the creative director of 2011 release Rage, left the studio six months ago and has now been confirmed as the director of development at the virtual reality specialist. We are thrilled to have Matt Hooper …

Online retailer approves direct web links to entice developers

Distributor E-xpress Interactive held its annual trade event in Mumbai, with representatives from various publishers and retailers in attendance. The main focus of the event was to showcase the company’s line-up of upcoming games for India, which includes Grand Theft Auto V, Batman: Arkham City, Watch Dogs, WWE 2K14, and …

The Payday series has outgrown the digital market place, says UK publisher 505 Games. The original Payday: The Heist was a Steam and PSN hit, selling 1.6m copies. And 505 has picked up the rights to bring its hotly-anticipated sequel to the High Street. The shooter will be released for …

EA hopes to make Battlefield a pop culture brand with its biggest merchandise plan yet. Branded accessories, iPhone cases, headsets, mouse mats, books, T-shirts, posters and more will flood shelves this Christmas to coincide with the arrival of Battlefield 4 on November 1st. This will be our biggest and best …

PlayStation and Xbox are priming retail partners as to how much next-gen console stock will be available on day one. This signifies the real start of festivities in the new console war, as retailers are encouraged to hustle punters for pre-order deposits. The first wave of pre-orders from the early …

Leigh Nicholls and eight other recruits join the London studio as it ramps up production

Deep Silver has announced the most extravagant video game SKU ever seen – and of course it’s for the flamboyant Saints Row IV. In May MCV reported on what was then the world’s most expensive video game, the 125,000 Grid 2 Mono Edition. Well, forget that. GAME is now offering …

Some of Sony’s biggest PlayStation IPs have made the move to iPhone in a new game carrying Coca-Cola branding. The game in question is PlayStation All-Stars Island – and it’s now available on both iOS and Android devices. The game currently offers a Temple Run-esque Uncharted themed island although additional …

Also inside: Epic's founders tell their story, Mark Cerny in conversation, Malta's games hub, pipelines in focus