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

UKIE GfK Chart-Track has confirmed MCV’s earlier report that Namco Bandai’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is the new UK No.1. Last week’s No.1, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II drops to third place, with EA’s FIFA 13 holding firm at No.2. Square Enix’s Hitman: HD …

Administrator Deloitte is preparing to close anything up to 100 HMV stores, reports claim. The Telegraph reports that between 60-100 stores face the chop, although they will likely remain open until they have exhausted their stock – possibly short-term good news for consumers, at least. The final list of stores …

Rumours suggest that Ziff Davis is on the brink of an acquisition of IGN. Bloomberg reckons IGN owner News International is willing to accept a figure below $100m for the company. As well as its gaming, movie and TV operations, IGN also owns Gamespy.com and Askmen.com. The move comes as …

Alex Peake promises refunds, rewards and back pay when team has money

EA is closing in on a couple of milestones for its Madden NFL franchise. The publisher has announced that the game will celebrate its 25th anniversary by ditching the upcoming season’s year in the title for Madden NFL 25. The game is set to launch on August 27th. EA has …

Namco Bandai is celebrating what some would call a surprise chart victory for Ni No Kuni this morning. The PS3-only JRPG, co-developed by established Japanese developers Level 5 and film animation master Studio Ghibli, will shortly be unveiled as the UK’s new No.1 in the GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top …

Mojang CEO Carl Manneh has revealed the Minecraft developer brought in revenue of nearly $240m last year. In an interview translated by GI.biz, Manneh explained how the total (which included $100m from license fees) was still difficult to comprehend for the independent developer. "It’s almost hard to grasp," said Manneh. …

Former Zynga design chief and Firaxis dev wants to bring back strategy through mobile

Valve has announced Steam’s top selling titles for the week ending on February 2nd, revealing a pair of new releases have made their mark on the chart this time around. Indie Antichamber fired out of the starting gate late last week to claim the fourth spot on the list, while …

New platform promises more open back-end services for mobile developers