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

Chris Lee heads up Music In Colour; Studio wins Sony Music Entertainment deal

Annihilation, the third map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, will be released for PS3 and PC on July 28th. The DLC features four new maps, including a Cuban golf course and an American drive-in theatre, as well as a new scenario for the ever popular Zombies mode. Annihilation …

August event boasts talks from development elite

Some 100 staff are to go from Future Publishing UK in the wake of a trading statement that showed group revenues down as pressures on print mount. An internal memo to staff from Future Publishing’s UK CEO Mark Wood has broken the news to staff today, MCV understands. Around 10 …

In our second weekly feature, we look at the overall advertising activity for video games on TV this year up to June 27th. This is provided by specialist communication firmGeneration Mediawhich focuses on the entertainment and leisure industries. This week we take a look at the year-on-year weekly marketing dynamics …

State support helps increase investment in EA Sports games, exec says

Retail sales of games, accessories and consoles in the US fell ten per cent year-on-year in June, NPD data shows. Sales of consoles alone totalled $366.6m during the month, compared to $401.7m generated during the same period last year. Software sales accumulated $469.5m – a dip of 12 per cent …

A new trade and consumer event for the Apple community will run in the UK in May 2012. Apple Expo will look to attract Apple creative professionals, Mac enthusiasts and the multi-million userbase of iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads and iPods. The show will take place in Earl’s Court. …

Production on Lost Legacy, the 3DS installment in the Assassin’s Creed series, is believed to have been cancelled. In an interview with Joystiq, Assassins Creed’s lead writer Darby McDevitt explained that the concept for Lost Legacy eventually became the basis for the upcoming November title. The 3DS project was then …

Future Publishing will continue to focus on digital as its print business declines in the US and UK. Group revenues for the nine months to June 30th, 2011 has dropped five per cent year-on-year. UK circulation revenues have fallen three per cent. It’s not all bad news, at UK digital …