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

An analyst has backed up the claims by Sony exec Rob Dyer that Microsoft’s strategic decisions are currently designed to protect what is being regarded as the technological disadvantage being suffered by Xbox 360. Dyer said last week that I think what [Xbox European boss] Chris Lewis and the other …

Around 1.25m consumers have put down pre-orders for EA’s upcoming FPS Battlefield 3, says CFO Eric Brown. He announced the milestone at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference yesterday, reports Gamasutra. "To date we have about 1.25m pre-orders on Battlefield 3, so it’s still well ahead of its predecessor title, Battlefield: …

01net has acquired somewhat of a reputation for reliable Nintendo gossip, particularly after the recent hard-to-believe but actually very real leak of a joypad add-on for 3DS. And the latest story to emerge from the French site is that developers are struggling with early builds of the Nintendo Wii U. …

As many as twenty developers have been made redundant at Utah-based studio Avalanche, according to reports, as part of a substantial cutback operation underway at Disney. The Mickey Mouse media conglomerate has in the past year cut loose as many as 500 game dev jobs from its once-thriving development fleet. …

Publishers do not want to share data to make a download chart, says Paul Jackson OBE. Comments from the former EA UK and ELSPA boss come in stark contrast to the message from trade body UKIE, which says the industry must unite and start sharing data. When asked what he …

Microsoft has made two significant changes to its Xbox UK senior management team. Neil Thompson – former regional Xbox director for Northern Europe – has been promoted to lead Microsoft’s new Consumer Channels Group (CCG). The group unites all of Microsoft’s physical consumer products, which includes Windows PCs, Windows Phones …

EA has waged a war of words with Activision – but is it really winning? Call of Duty showed no signs of weakness at its first franchise expo last week. Thousands of fans travelled to LA for Call of Duty XP, getting hands-on time with Modern Warfare 3 and taking …

Andy Coughlin has been announced as the new Retail Sales and Marketing Lead for all retail-sold Microsoft products throughout Australia. Coughlin will be reporting directly to David McLean, Consumer Channels Group Lead at Microsoft Australia, and moves to the role after 10 years experience at Microsoft. His most recent role …

GAME Australia has announced a Need For Speed: The Run MEGA BLOK with each pre-order of the game’s limited edition. The MEGA BLOK cars are DIY constructable vehicles from the game itself, and consumers will be scoring one of three available when they pre-order. The Limited Edition is ubiquitous across …

GAME Australia has tweeted this morning that Dead Island has broken it’s street date, and multiple retailers are now selling the title. The zombie/tiki first-person shooter was scheduled to land tomorrow, but is now being sold through GAME, EB Games and JB HiFi, with New Zealand’s major online videogame retailer …