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

GameStop’s new pre-owned rental scheme has been abruptly paused and possibly abandoned altogether. Kotaku reports that the chain yesterday told employees to take down all PowerPass signage. The scheme only launched last week. In a worrying sign for users, those who had already registered are being asked to return their …

Total War’s new spin-off series now has a name. It will go by the moniker ‘A Total War Saga’, and we already have confirmation of the first entry – Thrones of Britannia. The hook for the series is that it will focus on pivotal historic moments rather than more broadly …

Nintendo may actually be nearing the point of striking a deal to see Mario return to the big screen. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is close to an agreement with Illumination Entertainment, which is the studio behind the Despicable Me and Minions series. Talks have apparently been …

The number of visas is doubled and £20 million is being invested in public funds, but no mention of how this affects the games industry

Retailer GAME has reported a pre-tax loss of £10m for the year ending July 2017. In contrast, in the previous year it posted a £1.1m profit. Revenue was down 3.6 per cent year-on-year at £782.9m, while gross profit fell 5.7 per cent to £205.1m. As always, a “challenging” market was …

The partnership will send three developers on the Train Jam event along with VIP GDC access

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a victim of its own prosperity. The game’s meteoric success has seen it set the highest all-time player peak on Steam (2.6m) and seen it bought by over 20m people since it was released onto Steam’s Early Access program in March. Unfortunately, the massive stacks of cash …

The two companies will continue to work together and HTC's Vive Focus headset will be coming in 2018

Fortnite’s Battle Royale 1.9 update is currently being rolled out worldwide, and it’s adding several changes to differentiate the growing battle royale title. The update adds launch pads to the game, a trap that throws players high into the air, giving them a vantage point on the nearby area and …

Vehicular kickabout Rocket League releases on the Nintendo Switch today, opening up a whole new audience to the esports success story. Nintendo revealed Rocket League for their handheld console during their E3 presentation in June this year, showing that players would soon be able to score flawless goals on the …