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

Such has been the fantastic and ongoing success of Xbox 360 in the last few years that the industry can’t help but be worried when the market leader posts such disappointing numbers. Microsoft has reported that total Xbox 360 hardware sales hit 1.4m units shipped for the quarter ending March …

EA’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO may already be fading in regards to player numbers, a new report from Cowen and Company suggests. The game is forecasted to keep 1.25m subs by the end of the fiscal year, a steep and rather quick decline from the 1.7m figure recorded …

Kickstarter has had a significant impact on the games industry in just the past several weeks alone. Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports the crowdfunding site has brought in over $10m in guaranteed funding for game development projects since the beginning of March. That figure includes all projects that have either concluded …

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s first Content Collection is now available for all PS3 players. The CoD Community blog has announced that non-premium Call of Duty Elite members and stock MW3 players now have access to several multiplayer maps and a couple of Spec Ops missions. Maps include Overwatch, …

Global publishing power Activision won the most prestigious award at last night’s MCV Awards 2012, winning the coveted Grand Prix title. It was Activision’s first win of the top prize, which recognised key achievements including the introduction of new brand Skylanders at the most difficult point in the console cycle, …

SCE’s Rosemary Buahin last night won this year’s Special Recognition prize at the MCV Awards 2012. The popular trade marketing exec has held roles at Sony, WBIE, Eidos, Novalogic and Acclaim, and is hugely respected for her work with retail. The MCV Industry Excellence Awards celebrate the commercial and creative …

EA emerged as the winner of the coveted best Games Publisher award at last night’s MCV Awards 2012. It did so thanks to a string of strong releases that have seen the publisher dominate the UK charts since the turn of the year and put in a market-leading performance in …

Popular online PC game retail portal Steam became the first company to win the new Digital Retailer prize at last night’s MCV Awards 2012. The achievement acknowledges the market-leading position attained by Valve’s network, which has become the de facto choice for millions of PC gamers across the world. Five …

Ubisoft was crowned PR Team at last night’s MCV Awards 2012. The award was voted for by 100 UK games journos, and symbolises the fantastic work the publisher has achieved in the channel over the last 12 months. There were also six other winners in the PR & Marketing category. …

The tenth anniversary MCV Awards were dominated by mass-market brands and digital pioneers. There were no prizes for the format holders. Instead, the top three publishers all claimed multiple prizes while ambitious smaller firms grabbed many others. Activision took home four awards: two for the best-selling Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure (Digital …