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

Spec Ops: The Line – a critical success and a commercial disappointment. It has a Metacritic score of 75 per cent, but that has to be considered in a wider context. Few titles have pushed the games press to think so hard, and few have dared to tackle a genre …

Second executive in two weeks leaves to start his own studio

Zynga’s chief creative officer Mike Verdu is on the way out of the social games company to start his own mobile studio. Verdu spoke with AllThingsD regarding his departure, and specifically how he’s not looking to add to the noise level despite the timing. "I personally don’t want to add …

Funcom’s Q2 2012 financial report reveals its MMO The Secret World has sold 200,000 units since its launch in July. Mixed reviews and competing titles were blamed for the lower than expected results, affecting sales ‘significantly’ according to the company. Fumcom mentioned the release date announcements for Guild Wars 2 …

ArenaNet has announced Guild Wars 2 has already sold 1m copies ahead of today’s official launch for the MMO. Players who pre-ordered were allowed access to the game’s HeadStart weekend that kicked off last Friday. It seems to have paid off in a big way. At one point during the …

Indie rebirth a boon for Canadian development, says Silicon Sisters CEO

Kwalee CEO David Darling looks at how the notion of F2P titles being of poor quality compared to their paid-for counterparts is false

So that claim from OnLive that Steve Perlman was to remain as CEO then? Yeah, that was a lie. But he’s not the only boss out of the door – the bad news continues at shmup specialist Cave, whose CEO and president has also jumped ship. And let’s not even …

Mobile studio garners 5m downloads on iOS and Android in just two months

The second DLC release for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will allow players to construct their very own in-game home. Called Hearthfire, the download allows for gamers to purchase plot and plans and then construct a fully customisable dwelling that can be decorated and extended as its owners see fit. …