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

The UK eSports scene has been around for the best part of 20 years And Craig Fletcher has been involved in it since 1994, running his own Doom 2 league. By 1997 he set-up Multiplay. The firm may be best known for its Insomnia gaming tournaments, but Multiplay also does …

Pro-gaming can be an expensive hobby. Competitive gamers are the sort of people willing to splash hunderds of pounds on a mouse or a headset. These products are often fully customisable and designed to give players that extra edge in the heat of battle. And manufacturers are clambering to get …

The biggest eSports games on the market today are StarCraft II, Dota 2 and League of Legends. But these games haven’t made it as eSports titles by accident. The likes of Blizzard, Valve, Riot Games and Ubisoft have created content, features and modes designed specifically for the competitive gaming market. …

The jury may still be out on Black Ops II’s overall market performance, but the shooter has claimed yet another very impressive record today. Activision has announced that the game has hit the $1bn sales milestone in 15 days – that’s a day quicker than its predecessor Modern Warfare 3 …

The last Xbox 360 MCV Quiz of 2012 signed off the year in style, with Gem crowned as the night’s big winners. The popular night out was once again held in Holborn’s Sway bar and pitted retailers, platform holders and more against each other in a battle of wits. Dead …

The eSports events themselves are sights to behold. Take for instance the glitzy IGN Pro League finals in Las Vegas, where gamers are celebrities and fans are tripping over themselves to get close to the stars. That particular event is one of the most interesting and coolest I have been …

Supermarket giant Asda is weighing up its options in the digital games space. Asda Direct trading director Frazer Locke has told MCV that digital is the one thing lacking from its new online entertainment offer, which it launched last year. And it is looking at a whole range of options. …

It’s attracting an audience in the tens of millions and the attention of video game giants Valve, Riot, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft. So why is it struggling to generate money? And why isn’t the mainstream media talking about it? Christopher Dring investigates Do you remember ShootMania at Ubisoft’s E3 press …

ZeptoLab takes to the breakfast table with pudding puzzler

John Lewis wants to open 21 more stores, and that could be good news for the games industry. The department store’s brand director Peter Ruis said at a retail summit last week: We need new shops, we don’t have enough. We’re not in the places we need to be.We need …