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

One of the most surprising turns in this year’s X Factor wasn’t the show’s inevitable slide into mediocrity. It was a Blockbuster ad promoting games. This was a once-in-a-lifetime performance. The curtain lifted, to reveal a retailer, paying for prime space in a Saturday night TV show. Even better: it …

Struggling platform holder hopes to recreate the Brain Age craze

Forget Online Passes – renting is the new weapon for the war on pre-owned. Publishers have backed Blockbuster’s marketing push for its rental business as it ‘takes away from trade-ins’, the entertainment giant has told MCV. Consumers renting a game for 5 for five nights is a better option than …

Jonathan Goddard, Jeff Pabst and Simon Bull are the latest names to join MMO specialist Trion Worlds. Goddard joins as head of European PR. He previously worked at EA Games for four years as senior international PR manager, and most recently was global PR and marketing manager at Polish publisher …

A class action lawsuit has been filed against publisher EA over its failure to include a free version of digital shooter Battlefield 1943 with the PS3 version of Battlefield 3. Having announced the proposed freebie earlier this year, the omission was only revealed after the game had been released in …

Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has resisted an avalanche of new releases to remain at No.1 in the UKIE Gfk Chart-Track All Formats Top 40. It does so despite an 87 per cent week-on-week decline in sales. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Revelations was the strongest newcomer, debuting at No.2. …

A focus on Unity's expansion in the Asian markets after the company opened its Japan office

Owen Van Natta, the former CEO of MySpace, is to quit his position as chief business officer at casual games giant Zynga. He will, however, remain on the company’s board and is still employed as a strategic advisor. The decision will cost Van Natta millions of shares in the business, …

Telltale's score-fixing is part of a bigger problem, but one that shouldnâ??t be passed to the consumer...

Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar has suggested that a sequel to 2006 hit Bully (or Canis Canem Edit as it was rebranded in the UK) could still come to fruition. In fact, that studio considered beginning work on the project before eventually deciding to get the ball rolling on Max …