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

ZeniMax Media has reportedly acquired Swedish developer Machinegames, as revealed by an anonymous industry-monitoring Twitter post and corresponding business papers. The tweet, posted on November 1st, reads Zeminax has also acquired Magnus Hogdahl’s new studio. I wonder if it will bleed talent like Starbreeze.” The statement was then apparently verified …

Adrian Bolton, the general manager of Codemasters’ Guildford studio, is said to have unexpectedly left the company. His departure follows the recent and sudden exodus of lead developer Stuart Black – who had been working hard, some say far too hard, on the upcoming FPS Bodycount. Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens …

Walkout follows the departure of Stuart Black; no wider problem to report insists CEO

Sales record wonâ??t be beaten for another five years, says Screen Digest analyst

Dominant social network is not the only solution for online hits, says CEO Hubertz

Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubert warned that developers of traditional handheld games face a crisis as iPhones and Android devices tempt away their audience. In his keynote speech at London Games Conference last night, Hubertz warned against relying on solely one platform to build a games business – especially those platforms …

Bigpoint boss says big budget and reliance on subscriptions spells bad news for Star Wars MMO

EA thinks Play4Free shooter will ask serious questions of console market viability

Having this morning confirmed a brand new, free-to-play instalment of its popular Battlefield series, publisher EA has said that the emergence of such titles threatens to rock the world of console gaming. At what point do the hardcore gamers switch over from spending $60 a
month on console games to spending …

The world’s biggest games retailer last night offered a forewarning that the digital market must be embraced by the old guard of bricks and mortar outlets. In a clear, unequivocal statement that ringed around a packed crowd at last night’s London Games Conference, the head of GameStop’s digital business said …