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

Users can now browse store and interact with friends through iOS and Android

Free-to-play customers are spending up to 38 a month on virtual goods in games from publisher Spil Games, according to the social games company. It also claimed that since breaking into the casual games market in July 2011, it now has more than 170 million unique users playing its games …

Calling all industry cricket fans – the third annual Sega GamesAid Challenge Cup will be held this summer. The event will pit four teams against each other in 10/10 matches. It will be held at London’s Kew Green in May. Last year, industry cricketers raised 1,920 for the charity – …

Online chatter pointing to an impending announcement of significant layoffs at THQ is quickly gathering pace. Talk intensified last night after analyst Kevin Dent claimed that the publisher would soon be announcing 170+ layoffs spread across its various operations. Note, though, that Dent was also the source of claims that …

Rumours that this week’s big releases will not be available in GAME are untrue, MCV can confirm. Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Soul Calibur V are currently being processed by the retailer, despite claims circulating in the consumer press. However, MCV can also confirm that GAME …

Konami has announced that former US president Shinji Hirano has replaced Kunio Neo as its European president. There’s no word yet on Neo’s new role. Hirano will work from Konami’s Frankfurt HQ and liaise closely with the London, Paris and Madrid offices. He will oversee business strategy for core games …

The most bankable games studios in the world today, measured by retail sales data

3DS owners can now access free Wi-Fi at over 5,000 hotspots across Europe thanks to a deal with free-hotspot.com. Providing the correct settings are in place, the handhelds will automatically connect when within range of a compatible hotspot. free-hotspot.com has partnerships with companies such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, …

Facebook has added new features to its interface to get more people discovering and playing its social and browser games. The gaming activity of users’ friends are now combined into one list that appears in the news feed, listing the titles that people have been playing. This has also been …

Movie tie-in will only launch on PC at retail, Kalypso Media claims