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

Angry Birds creator Rovio (left) takes Grand Prix, Livingstone (far left) named Development Legend

Publisher Ubisoft’s Q1 2011 sales have hit 90.7m, a drop of 36.3 per cent compared to the year before. But this is significantly up on the company’s expectations of just 79.2m. Last year the publisher generated 141.8m, but this was boosted by the release of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten …

Tonight is the biggest night for games developers: over 550 industry execs will cram into the Brighton Hilton’s Ballroom to see who has won the Develop Industry Excellence Awards. But if you’re not there, don’t worry – we’ve got the event covered for you through comprehensive live coverage. The ceremony …

London toy megastore Hamleys is promoting toys based on Mind Candy’s smash kids’ game Moshi Monsters throughout the summer. A special themed window display featuring Moshi merchandise will go up throughout the school holiday period. Floor and escalator vinyls will also direct attention to the toys. Hamleys will stock the …

Future Publishing has confirmed to staff which titles are to be sold or closed as part of the recent job losses revealed by MCV last week – and the company’s video games teams have survived unscathed. The Guardian reports, however, that eight titles are less fortunate, with DVD & Blu-Ray …

Develop Conference: Respected concept artist hints at release schedule for anticipated sci-fi title

Cult Japanese games developer Grasshopper Manufacture’s next game is called Lollipop Chainsaw, according to Japanese games paper Famitsu. The name alone conjures up images that are very much fitting with the studio’s characteristically leftfield output which has to date included Michigan: Report from Hell, Killer 7, Contact, No More Heroes …

You could run an entire website based on nothing more than Apple launch rumours, but here’s an interesting one that comes directly from Apple itself. As part of its Q3 financial statement, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said: We have a future product transition that we’re not going to talk about …

European games rating body PEGI has released a Windows Phone 7 version of its smartphone app. The download allows users to access the 16k+ strong database of game ratings for PAL titles. It supports 11 languages and, as well as consumer advice, review content syndicated from Eurogamer. The PEGI app …

Studios, universities and games groups urged to add to 'unanimous industry voice'