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

Sales up to $900m with modest growth forecast for year ahead

Geoff Heath has joined fast-growing music games outfit 4mm Games as it opens new offices in London. The New York-based publisher has opened an office in the West End to support its European growth. Advisory board memeber Heath will offer strategic input. 4mm was formed last year by former Rockstar …

Future’s Edge magazine has given Super Mario Galaxy 2 a notable 10/10 in its newest issue due out this week. It becomes only the 12th game to receive top marks from the famously critical multiformat mag. Fellow title Official Nintendo Magazine is due to give the game 97 per cent, …

For the twelve months ended March 31, THQ’s net sales rose 8% to $899 million, compared with sales of $830 million a year ago. The company posted a loss of $9 million for the year, a marked improvement on last year’s loss of $431 million. THQ President and CEO Brian …

Ubisoft has announced it is currently working on Tom Clancy’s Hawx 2, due for release this autumn. The game is a being developed by Ubisoft Bucharest and is a sequel to the original dogfighter, released back in March 2009. As with the first game, Hawx 2 will be available for …

After what has felt like an eternity to many MCV readers judging by the comments on yesterday’s story, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack has finally arrived on PSN. The download costs 10.99 on the UK service – a full 79p more than it did on Xbox …

Organisers of Gamescom are hoping to tempt retailers to the show with free flights – and draw in consumers with the first public demos of Natal and Move. Show host Koelnmesse and German trade group BIU held a special presentation in London this week outlining plans to cement the expo’s …

At least 18 workers now at Zampella and Westâ??s new dev outfit

The latest instalment of EA’s MySims franchise – SkyHeroes – has been scheduled for release this autumn and is heading to Xbox 360 and PS3 for the first time, as well as the Wii and DS. The MySims series has sold strongly on the casual-focused Wii and DS formats and …

It’s the surprise hit that no-one saw coming and arguably the biggest success story of 2010, and now Ubisoft’s Just Dance has reached another important milestone – it has sold 1m units in the UK. It achieved the same feat in the US last month. In total the game has …