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

Consumers are spending money – just not on video games. According to the Leisure Industries Research Centre in Sheffield, people spent 227.5bn on leisure activities in 2012. A rise of 3.7 per cent over 2011. The biggest risers were for holidays and tourism, which rose 4.1 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, …

One of the great things about the internet is that it gives everyone a voice. But one of the bad things about the internet is that it gives everyone a voice. Remember the furore that erupted over EA and Firemonkey’s decision to make Real Racing 3 a F2P title? Remember …

The self-perpetuating circle that is denting Wii U’s chances on the market has claimed two more victims. Firstly, Saints Row IV publisher Deep Silver has confirmed to Polygon that the recently announced Saints Row IV is not due to make an appearance on Nintendo’s machine. Secondly, fans of Dead Island: …

User-generated content has helped spur on 'an insatiable demand for gaming'

A number of big releases will this week enjoy significant discounts on Nintendo’s Wii U eShop digital game store. Ubisoft has cut the price of all of its Wii U games, with big-hitters Zombi U and Assassin’s Creed III cut from (the admittedly extraordinarily high) 54.99 to 29.99. Several have …

Maxis GM Lucy Bradshaw has tried to diffuse some of the anger being thrown at SimCity, but fresh claims from the modding community have cast doubt on the studio’s defence. I’d like to offer some straight answers on the topic: Always-Connected and why SimCity is not an offline experience, Bradshaw …

Square Enix has retained the top spot in the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 listings despite a 72 per cent week-on-week dip in sales for adventure outing Tomb Raider. In doing so it successfully fended off the advances of three new releases – God of War: Ascension, Starcraft …

Games employment up four per cent in 2012 after three years of decline

Developers to cross-promote Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead

Computer science department offers new program to boost recruitment