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

The number of paying subscribers for World of Warcraft fell to 11.1m between May and July, but Blizzard has plans to reverse the downturn. World of Warcraft is still the PC’s leading MMO despite losing 300,000 players. Back in May this year the online RPG had 11.4m players. At its …

RIM's new tablet will not run Android apps until the autumn, says source

Publishing giant Activision Blizzard claims that its digital operations far outstrip those of social games phenomenon Zynga. During a conference call following the publisher’s Q2 financial results, executives told investors that the FarmVille firm posed no threat to Activision’s business, according to Reuters. "Last year, our digital business alone generated …

Publisher makes more than $400 million in three months through DLC

Luxurious add-on once cost $200, reports claim

Pre-orders for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 are on track to surpass those of last year’s Black Ops – and could soar higher with the newly announced Wii SKU. During an investors earnings call that followed Activision Blizzard’s better-than-expected Q2 results, the publisher confirmed that a Wii version of …

Activision Blizzard has announced a fourth map pack, Resurrection, will be released this month for Call of Duty: Black Ops. The news comes as the publisher reports that the game has sold more than 25 million worldwide since is launch in November. Resurrection – referred to as ‘Rezurrection’ by Activision’s …

Steam boss Jason Holtman to headline London industry event

Sony VP Kazuo Hirai has announced that PlayStation Vita won’t reach European and US shelves this year. It had been rumoured for some time that the device would miss its Q4 target, and now that has been confirmed. Retailers had previously told MCV they were hopeful the handheld would arrive …

The biggest digital distributor in games will address the trade at the London Games Conference. Jason Holtman, director of business development for Steam at US super-developer Valve, will present a keynote at the November event about the digital market. He will be joined by Sega’s John Clark, head of digital …