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

Growing video games publisher Warner Bros Interactive has acquired a majority stake in London-based developer Rocksteady Studios. The move comes after the tremendous success enjoyed by Rocksteady’s 2009 release Batman: Arkham Asylum. The deal is the latest in Warner’s ongoing strategy to strengthen its internal development capacity. In 2007 it …

Mind-boggling” – that’s the word Activision boss Bobby Kotick used to describe how he felt about the $7m acquisition of Blizzards by Davidson & Associates in 1994. The exec couldn’t believe the ludicrous amount of money Blizzard had been sold for” at the time. Eight years down the line Kotick …

iPhone game publisher Ngmoco has bought developer Freeverse and announced that it has raised a further $25 million in funding bringing its total – after three rounds – to over $40 million. To read the full story, head over to sister site CasualGaming.biz.

The total value of the global video games software market will reach $64.9bn by 2013 – a jump of approximately 28 per cent on its current value – according to a new report by Strategy Analytics. The report, entitled ‘Global Video Game Market Forecast’, predicts not only a rise in …

The amount of money invested in the video games sector by venture capitalists in North America was down 29 per cent in 2010 according to a new data from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Boston.com reports that in 2008 money from venture capitalists funded the development of 35 games in North America, representing a …

The Xbox 360 and PS3 multiplayer demo for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been downloaded over 3.5m times since it was released by EA last month, the publisher has revealed. Since its arrival gamers have successfully slaughtered 500m times, though they’ve also revived 25m of their fellow soldiers. In addition …

2K Games has announced it will be supporting BioShock 2 with an aggressive line-up of post-launch downloadable content. The first DLC pack – Sinclair Solutions Test Pack – will hit Xbox Live and PSN in March, and adds new characters, weapons upgrades and maps to the multiplayer mode, as well …

Platform holder Nintendo has filed a patent for portable force feedback, further adding to rumours that Nintendo is already at work on a successor to the DS. The Japanese games manufacturer made an amendment last month to a patent made in August 2005. It reads: A game apparatus includes an …

Longstanding UK developer Rebellion has that it’s keen to progress negotiations with Sega for a sequel to the game after it shot to number one in the UK charts. We’re also in discussions with Sega about ongoing support for AvP, and also about a sequel to the game,” said company …

PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain has become the latest game to be banned in the United Arab Emirates thanks to its inclusion of adult material. In a statement released to Kotaku, Sony said: The UAE’s National Media Council has banned Heavy Rain on PS3. Heavy Rain has an 18+ PEGI rating …