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

Zynga's Austin studio picks up John Blakely following SOE departure

Sony Online Entertainment has expanded its "Make Good" plans to reward customers who have been unable to access its games following the attack on both its and the PSn servers last month. The company had already announced 30 days free subscription time as well as one additional day for each …

R&D tax service group Rupert Clark explains how devs can gain ground

Sony has detailed ambitious plans to protect its PlayStation Network from future hacks. New measures include a complete migration of its servers to a new data centre, encryption enhancements and automated software monitoring. A list of the improvements can be found on Develop.

Sega Sammy has reported profits of YEN 41.5bn for the financial year ended March 31st, 2011. The company has more than doubled its profits in the previous year, up 104.8 per cent from YEN 20.2bn. Sales rose by 3.1 per cent year-on-year to YEN 396.7bn. Key sales drivers were identified …

Ubisoft has confirmed a further delay to next-gen console and PC team shooter Ghost Recon: Future Shooter. The game is now due out in the company’s fiscal Q4, which means some time between the beginning of January 2012 and the end of March of that year. The title was announced …

UK on the rise as key studios begin hiring sprees

As well as revealing an eye-watering 60 per cent year-on-year increase in Xbox 360 console sales in the US last month, Microsoft has also announced some high-profile Kinect successes. Rare’s Kinect Sports has now sold over 3m units with Harmonix’s Dance Central has exceeded 2.5m unit sales. The platform holder …

Ex Realtime Worlds creative director returns for second spin

Sony has lifted the lid on the PS3-exclusive Starhawk, the sequel to 2007’s Warhawk. Unlike the multiplayer-only first title, the new game will feature a single-player story mode. Of course a range of multiplayer games will be available. It will also be the first title developed by Texas-based LightBox Interactive, …