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

In the hours leading up to its decision to suspend Star Wars Battlefront 2’s loot crate spending, EA has argued that the system is not a form of gambling. This is despite the news that two European countries are investigating just that question. Gamasutra reports that Belgian Gaming Commission general …

Ian McGregor has been named as the new chief marketing officer of digital retailer Green Man Gaming. McGregor’s career includes stints at Activision and EA, and he has previously worked on games including FIFA, The Sims and Call of Duty. GMG notes his involvement in launching the FIFA Interactive World …

NPD has said that the overall video game market spend in the US in October was down 11 per cent year-on-year at $825m. That’s despite gains in the hardware market, which was up ten per cent at $238m. Switch was the month’s best-selling platform, with Nintendo adding that: “When combined …

Publisher EA has bowed to the ever-growing pressure being heaped on Star Wars Battlefront II by disabling the game’s microtransactions completely. The move can be seen as a victory for the vocal critics who have being piling on the publisher non-stop for the last couple of weeks. EA, however, has …

General manager of DICE, Oskar Gabrielson, announced the news on Twitter last night before the games general launch

We recently saw Sony use its Paris Games Week event to promote an enviably broad line-up of new content for its PlayStation VR headset. But all the content in the world won’t help if the installed base of headsets isn’t big enough to benefit from it. However, Sony took a …

Three of the team from EA DICE hosted a Reddit AMA where the focus was squarely on progression issues and loot boxes

The Paladins Premier League Fall Finals kicks off today with several of the world’s top teams competing for a chunk of the $50,000 prize pool. One of these teams is Team Renegades, playing today against G2 Esports. Renegades are unique in the esports scene because they met on Paladin’s Facebook …

Unlike the UK investigation, the Belgian research believes the mechanic is based on chance and counts as gambling

Stefan Berger, head of business development at UIG, tells MCV about the state of the simulation genre, the company’s shift from PC to consoles and its distribution partnership with Austrian publisher Toplitz Productions. Can you tell us a bit more about UIG for those who are unfamiliar with your work? …