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

Publisher to quadruple headcount to 800 new employees, and will receive to more than $750m in investment

Hundreds of press and industry members attend the annual glitzy launch events for each Call of Duty game. Celebrities make appearances at huge venues like Old Billingsgate, from Sophie Ellis Bextor to Joe Calzaghe. Thousands of consumers queue up for midnight store openings. Then there’s the eye-catching point-of-sale imagery and …

The female gamer is in decline, research has found. Statistics from Kantar Worldpanel show that the boxed games market is proving more popular with males aged 18 to 24, while casual and female gamers are switching over todigital platforms. Three quarters of games sold in 2008 were bought for males …

The Japanese publisher behind No More Heroes is coming to Europe. Marvelous AQL – the result of last year’s merger between Marvelous Entertainment, AQ Interactive and mobile developer Liveware – has created a new subsidiary MAQL Europe. The firm will be based in Tunbridge Wells and headed up by CEO …

Peripherals specialist Lazerbuilt has secured the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog. The firm will produce accessories for consoles and mobile devices.The range is due to arrive at retail this September. Lazerbuilt says it will not only target children aged between seven and 12 years old with Nintendo 3DS and DS …

PlayStation plus could be on the way to becoming a tiered membership service, if a new survey from Sony is anything to go by. IGN reports that the PS3 platform holder has circulated a questionnaire to PS+ members that asks if they’d be willing to pay different amounts for different …

Windows 7 OS, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player also banned; Xboxes may be recalled and destroyed

Nintendo boss defends plans to set price point of digital and retail boxed products at same level for Wii U

A patent dispute between Microsoft and Motorola has resulted in an injunction banning key Microsoft items from distribution in Germany – including Xbox 360. Also blocked from distribution in the country are Windows 7, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. The development follows news last week that the pair were …

Japanese social gaming giant Gree has acquired mobile game developer Funzio in a deal worth $210m. Funzio has developed a raft of popular free-to-play App Store titles like Modern War, Kingdom Age and Crime City, which have been downloaded over 20m times. Players can purchase extra in-game currency to progress …