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

FarmVille creators Zynga have settled out of court after being sued by online game developer Digital Chocolate. The latter claimed Zynga’s popular 2008 Facebook title Mafia Wars infringed on copyright of its own 2004 mobile game of the same name, according to The Recorder. Terms of the settlement have not …

505 Games is enjoying something of a surprise hit with Zumba Fitness, the keep-fit game for Kinect that is outperforming expectations – as well as some big rival products. On Xbox 360 the title has shifted over 35,000 units to date and has increased its sell-through every week since release. …

Major new games based around Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 2 make up a sizzling summer line-up for Disney. The action will kick off in May with LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, which is due on shelves as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides debuts in cinemas. The …

Activisionâ??s remaining UK studio yet to reach final agreement on its future

David Braben on ownership, theft, freedom of speech and the outsiders

13th Skull arrives in stores tomorrow and Focus Multimedia is confident it’ll be the biggest casual game of 2011. It’s the seventh instalment in the publisher’s Mystery Case Files franchise which is the best-selling hidden object series of all time. Players must search for clues and interview locals to progress …

Redundant workers post pictures of tombstones on their Facebook pages

EA has announced that the first premium DLC for survival horror hit Dead Space 2 will be released in Europe on March 2nd. It will cost 5.49 on PSN or 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. Called Dead Space 2: Severed, the download tells the story of Dead Space Extraction …

Stuart Dredge, the online editor of MCV sister site ME, has been named one of the world’s top online ‘voices’ on the ‘SAY 100: Online Voices That Shape Opinion’ list. It comprises representatives from multiple sectors including Style, Food, Business, Design, Travel and so on. Stuart Miles, editor of Pocket-lint, …

The rebirth of the Smurf continues to gather pace following Capcom’s confirmation that its free-to-play iOS title Smurfs’ Village has now passed the 10m download mark on the Apple App Store. Fellow Capcom title Zombie Cafe has also hit the same milestone. In this highly competitive market, the secret behind …