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

Zynga will be closing its offices in Japan by the end of January, according to the company’s head of operations in the territory. Kenji Matsubara, CEO of Japan operations, took to Facebook to announce the news. Matusabara thanked users for playing the social and mobile company’s titles, and also revealed …

The National Rifle Association has looked to pile some of the blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on violent video games. NRA head Wayne LaPierre decried violence in video games, and other media, during a press briefing last week regarding the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. "There exists in …

MCV can reveal that Sony’s PS3 will drop tantalisingly close to the magic 100 mark in GAME’s Christmas sale, which starts on Boxing Day. The retailer will be offering the European-only 12GB version of the console including a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man on Blu-ray for just 125 – that …

UK boxed games retailers sold 2.23m video games last week. In total, the likes of GAME, Amazon and Tesco made 56.7m from the sale of software. A rise of 13 per cent week-on-week. The numbers are disappointing for those buyers and store managers expecting a late festive rush. For the …

Call of Duty Black Ops II is the UK’s video games Christmas No.1, giving Activision a run of six consecutive weeks at the top. Sales of the game were fractionally up by one per cent in the busy pre-Christmas trading week (ending Dec 22nd for this listing). It’s the first …

Valve has revealed Steam’s top ten sellers for this past week, which includes the first several days of the PC digital games distributor’s famed Holiday Sale. In what would appear to also double as a best of 2012 list, the top four had Borderlands 2 finishing ahead of Dishonored, Hitman: …

Rockstar Games has sent out holiday wishes to fans with five new Grand Theft Auto 5 screenshots. The new screenshots show off scuba diving with sharks, two fighter jets flying in tandem, and possibly the ability for your character to have pets? Rockstar hasn’t accompanied the screens with an explanation …

Industry stalwart and former PlayStation Europe boss David Reeves is stepping down as Capcom COO in January, MCV can reveal. He will return to the consultancy and advisory role he held before he was appointed COO in March 2010. Over the past three years I have been very fortunate to …

Jagex have splash out half a million pounds on a Runescape TV and cinema marketing campaign. The 12 year-old free-to-play game has undergone some big changes this year, and can be seen before The Hobbit in UK and Australian cinemas. Publisher Jagex has also booked spots on TV and via …

Social games giant GREE has been named as the co-sponsor of Japan’s bid to host the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. It will share sponsorship duties with Yahoo Japan. The drive will begin on December 26th with the first advertising hitting newspapers and public transport. GREE CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka has also …