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

Valve’s digital games retail network Steam now has over 30m active accounts, the company has announced. During the last 12 months it has seen user growth of 178 per cent and sales growth in excess of 200 per cent. Over 1,200 games are now available to buy over the network, …

Rovio, the Finnish studio that realised the App Store dream of turning an indie studio into a world-conquering money-maker, has found new success on Android devices. The studio that saw its full-price Angry Birds game downloaded nearly seven million times on Apple’s App Store, has now passed two million downloads …

As was predicted by EA earlier in the month, the latest instalment to the Medal of Honor franchise has smashed all previous week one sales records for the franchise. This morning the game claimed top spot in the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40. The new Medal of Honor …

The New York Post is reporting that Microsoft is spending $500m on what it calls a major movie-style marketing blitz” to accompany the launch of Kinect next month. The wide-reaching campaign will touch on all manner of sectors including TV, online, print, food and drink. Partners include Disney, Nickelodeon, Burger …

Millions of Facebook users have had their personal information leaked to advertising companies through various Zynga games, it has emerged. A wall Street Journal investigation into the matter concludes that all of the 10 most popular apps on Facebook had been transmitting user IDs to external companies, igniting new criticisms …

Kindle, the famous ‘digital ink’ e-reader, is now hosting its first indie-developed game, in what owner Amazon is hoping will ignite interest in device as a games platform. Weighing at 343.4kB, the black-and-white strategy title Triple Town has been built by indie outfit Spry Fox – a studio co-founded by …

Moshi Monster creator and Mind Candy CEO criticises the UKâ??s culture of failure

First half of 2010 shows a closing gap between digital and physical spend

Moving Picture Company to talk challenges of stereoscopic workflow at October 28th event

ORIGINAL STORY: Platform holder Microsoft has confirmed that there are 17 titles ready to arrive alongside its motion-sensing camera Kinect on November 4th. Microsoft’s four first party titles leads the line-up, which also includes four fitness games (five in the UK – see below), two dancing titles and a film …