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

Activision says its new Spider-Man title will answer the criticisms made by the firm’s outspoken CEO Bobby Kotick. The Activision boss said in January that recent Spider-Man games had ‘sucked’. But the publisher is confident that its latest Spider-Man title – Shattered Dimensions – won’t be lambasted for its quality …

Momentum may be slowing, but Nintendo’s Wii continues to break European sales records. The motion-based console has now smashed through the 22 million barrier across Europe, MCV can reveal. Meanwhile, DS – officially the biggest selling games-only platform in history – has sold 41 million units across European territories. The …

Global games giants reckon E3 2010 will pull the market out of the doldrums. Throughout the year all three major territories – Japan, Europe and the US – suffered a decline in sales. So as the world’s media watches on, industry execs are convinced that next week’s blockbuster line-up of …

Hasbro has announced that it has more than a dozen games in development and scheduled to launch worldwide in the second half of this year through its deals with Electronic Arts and Activision. The latest wave of titles from EA will further expand its portfolio of Hasbro-inspired digital games that …

Another game has been confirmed as joining Sony’s 3D revolution – Move compatible monochrome brawler The Fight: Lights Out. The combination of PS3’s new motion controller tech and stereoscopic 3D should certainly provide a unique gaming experience for those able to afford all the required component parts. The Fight becomes …

Mergers, acquisition and consolidation leave no part of the games industry untouched: today respected market research agency Screen Digest has agreed to an acquisition by US-based data firm iSuppli. iSuppli’s specialism is ‘the electronics value chain’ – it’s best known for offering price guides to components used in hardware like …

Electronic Arts is no longer being sued by music firm Gibson Guitar Corporation over its Rock Band controllers. The companies have told Magistrate Judge Juliet that they had reached a full settlement” and will be seeking dismissal of the case by June 14, according to a federal court filing. Terms …

Europe has been identified as a key expansion target for growing social games developer Playdom. The company intends to fully localise some of its most popular Facebook and MySpace games for the English, German, French, Spanish and Italian markets. First up will be Facebook football title Bola. In 2010 thus …

Linden Lab to reduce its workforce by thirty per cent

Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association has released figures that show how severe a problem piracy is on Nintendo DS. CESA claimed Pokmon Platinum is the most pirated game with 2.07m transfers recorded, worth YEN 9.5 billion ($m). In fact, three of the most downloaded games were Pokmon titles, with Pokmon …