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

New Canadian studio Precursor Games has hired Denis Dyack to work as chief creative officer on a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness. Pledges are now being welcomed at the official site. It is aiming for a not insignificant $1.5m, of which it has raised $88,127 from over 1,400 backers with …

Has ShopTo become the first online retailer to be called out for early shipping? Eurogamer reports that ShopTo is refusing to sell any upcoming Activision games after a dispute involving November release Call of Duty: Ghosts. Activision has specified that ShopTo can only ship out copies to customers on the …

Maxis will release The Sims 4 in 2014 for PC and Mac, EA has announced. Avoiding any speculation to the contrary, the announcement clearly states that the game will be a single-player offline experience”, a relief for fans after the teething problems faced by the always-on SimCity. The Sims 4 …

The PS4’s share button may not be available at all times or in all titles. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told 4gamer.net, as translated by Edge,that developers will be able to disable sharing if they wish to protect elements of their game. The move was inspired by Dark Souls, …

Console giant continues push for third-party developers through web and mobile technologies

XSEED, the US subsidiary of Japanese publisher Marvelous AQL, has rebranded as Marvelous USA. Founded in 2004 by a group of Square Enix vets and acquired by Marvelous in 2008, the new label will incorporate both the XSEED brand of PC, handheld, and console games as well as the Marvelous …

First5 Games' Dustin Clingman returns to post along with Ed Fries and others

The first of Nvidia’s new GTX 700 graphics cards could be released as soon as next week. And for the first time we’ve now got a reasonably good idea of what shape the line-up will assume. Fudzilla reports that the entry-level GTX 760 Ti will effectively be a rebranded GTX …

Film veteran Pat Butler and Baroness King of Bow Oona King also appointed to board

Engine maker believes developers will benefit from new mobile tools race