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

Free-to-play online game Playboy Party has launched today on popular social network Facebook. It’s Jolt Online’s first game published since the firm was acquired by GameStop, and allows players to throw the best party to set scores and unlock content. Playboy Party is currently in open beta and is free …

Submissions open for the Zoo Publishing indie games contest

Social game giant Zynga could be on the verge of surpassing revenues of $400 million for the calendar year, independent data and user trends suggest. HIS Screen Digest games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls has revealed some of his firm’s own research data to Develop, and calculates that the Facebook games group …

Users of Xbox Live are now able to register for the Xbox Live Rewards program, a new scheme that offers to dish out real Microsoft Points for free. It’s open to any Gold Members of the service who are registered in either the UK or US. Points will be awarded …

Social game giant took in over $200 million last year, according to independent data revealed to Develop

As if accusing FIFA execs of bribery wasn’t enough, next week BBC’s Panorama threatens to lift the lid on ‘games addiction’. With an agenda sure to put UKIE and senior publisher PR teams on red alert, the show examines ‘how manufacturers ensure gamers keep coming back for more’. Earlier this …

Good news for those who have been finding the expense of Q4 a bit much – GAME and GameStation are offering a special deal on Wii title Donkey Kong Country Returns that shouldn’t be missed. The first 20 people in line to buy Nintendo’s new game at either GAME’s Oxford …

Casual publisher Chillingo, which is now a division of EA, has penned a deal with Tradewest that will see the join forces on a number of mobile releases. The multi-product publishing deal will kick off with type-‘em-up” TxT Fighter which is due out shortly on the Apple app store. We …

While massively multiplayer games are predominantly a PC-based affair, various companies have tried to establish a market on consoles – with mixed results. The 2003 title EverQuest Online Adventures struggled to recreate its predecessor’s success on PS2, but Sega has seen relatively strong performances from its Phantasy Star Online titles, …

For a genre dedicated to creating stable, believable worlds, the MMO market is surprisingly volatile. But if the sector is a 220 million business in the UK, as recent research suggests – why is it such a hard market to crack? It’s one that many traditional publishers have struggled to …