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

Xbox 360 still rules the roost in the US, but sales for the December quarter were sharply down year-on-year. Revenue for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division – home of Xbox and Windows Phone – was down 11 per cent to $3.8bn with operating income up 15 per cent to $596m. …

Microsoft’s policy regarding the exchange of MS Points for currency is leaving Japanese developers on the short end compared to their peers, according to G.Rev boss Hiroyuki Maruyama. XBLAFans translated Maruyama’s statements on Twitter regarding the compensation discrepancy, citing it as one of the main reasons Japanese devs largely avoid …

The first episode of previously revealed Assassin’s Creed III DLC ‘Tyranny of George Washington’ has been dated for February. The content will arrive on February 19th, the day after America’s President’s Day holiday, and offers an alternate reality take on the game’s colonial setting. The initial episode will cost $10 …

Sega has announced the Total War: Shogun 2 Gold Edition, a bundling of the base game and its two expansions set to land in North America and Europe this March. The upcoming definitive offering of Creative Assembly’s critically acclaimed 2011 PC strategy title will launch at select retailers Stateside on …

Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are reportedly eyeing HMV outlets as a potential way to expand their own store counts. Earlier this week, restructuring firm Hilco acquired 120m of HMV’s debt, giving it control of the company. However, reports suggest Hilco only wants half of HMV’s 230 stores, meaning up to …

The collapse of HMV and Blockbuster is unlikely to have a massive impact upon the video games market. The two entertainment giants fell into administration over the last two weeks, following news that Play.com is ending its own direct-to-retail business. All three retailers are big supporters of the games industry, …

The WWE franchise will continue, despite the liquidation of publisher THQ. The WWE licence was not up for sale as part of THQ’s auction last night and was returned to WWE. A tweet from the official WWE Games Twitter feed said: "We don’t have any details to share yet, but …

HMV has seen its footfall reach ‘near Christmas levels’ in recent weeks, following news of the retailer’s administration. The increased publicity – plus the company’s Blue Cross Sale – has resulted in a surge of nostalgia, which has seen consumers return to HMV stores. Meanwhile, Retail-Week is reporting that Hilco …

Ouya. Project Shield. GameStick. These headline-grabbing devices lead the wave of new Android-based consoles due this year. These devices have plenty of hype behind them as consumers help fund some of them via Kickstarter. The Google-owned Android platform accounts for 75 per cent of the mobile market – but in …

LittleBigPlanet Vita studio to help indies on PSN