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

Following the loss of HMV and Blockbuster stores, the role of a distributor has become (in principle) easier for now, with fewer stores to deliver to. But this offers no comfort when there are fewer orders coming in. So have the suppliers been hurt the most by the High Street’s …

Nobody buys licenced kids and casual games anymore, right? Particularly for ageing platforms like Nintendo DS. But Avanquest has built a business out of it, and surprised many last year by performing admirably in the publisher rankings. MCV speaks to MD Steve Powell… What drove your sales in 2012? The …

Koch Media’s TV campaign for zombie sequel Dead Island: Riptide will focus on male gamers. A big TV push will reach 3.5m men between 18 and 34, while the broader activity will reach out to fans of the original game plus cult horror enthusiasts. Ads for the game will also …

Newly appointed HR Penny Handscomb to lead its search for dozens of staff

Morrisons is tackling the video games market with renewed focus this year, according to its games buyer Simon Millea. The grocer plans to make its games business more relevant and theatrical for its customers by being more selective with the titles it stocks and finding new sources of revenue. We …

Square Enix has officially confirmed Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut for Wii U. Furthermore, it describes the release as offering striking visual improvements” that make SKU the best looking” version available. This statement likely does not refer to the already lovely PC version, but is still impressive if the …

Former members of the UK THQ team have found a new home amongst the ranks of Koch Media. Mark Fisher and Mike Richardson joined the firm earlier this week. Huw Beynon started at Koch last week and Suzanne Panter is due to join them. Fisher has taken on the role …

Publisher EA has expanded its fitness aspirations with the release of yoga app Yogify on iOS. The app, currently available on the New Zealand app store, is a natural expansion of the road EA started down with the release of EA Sports Active 1 and 2. TheAppSide reports that the …

Intel Developer Blog: Softtalkblog looks at how HTML5 can help increase market reach

Sky and Microsoft have struck a deal to bring pay-as-you-go Sky Sports access to Xbox 360 owners. It arrives as part of an expansion to Sky’s streaming video service app Now TV. As announced yesterday, Sky is for the first time offering accessing to its sports broadcast on a non-subscription …