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

California–based developer Pandemic Studios is the latest victim of EA’s mass staff reduction operation, reports suggest, and may have closed down completely. An EA spokesperson was not available for comment as a news report from Kotaku went live and suggested that EA has shuttered the studio completely, taking as many …

200 jobs to be cut as EA shutters the Californian studio completely, report claims

Despite widespread reports to the contrary, publisher Activision Blizzard has firmly denied that its recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been banned in Russia thanks to its controversial terrorist level – which, incidentally, is called ‘No Russian’. Reports that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been …

Why the economic downturn is making recruiting tougher for Canadian developers

Age of Conan publisher Funcom has reported a bad set of financials for its fiscal Q3, with revenues falling 68.5 per cent year-on-year to reach $5.7m. In total Funcom’s losses hit $9.6m for the period. In Q3 last year it recorded a profit of $3.3m. The drops were blamed on …

The potential for a modern-day game based on classic sci-fi IP Bladerunner is obvious – and such a reality very nearly came to pass, developer Gearbox has admitted. Speaking to OXM, Gearbox president Randy Pitchford admitted: One of my partners, Brian Martell, had Bladrunner on the list of IPs we …

Nintendo maestro hints at sequel to 2008 release as he admits original title underperformed

Which makes new publisher Enjoy Gaming an interesting company. They might have picked a tough year to start in – but at least from that point of view things can only get better for them. And starting small on some specialised DS, Wii and PC games should prove to be …

Robomodo confirms new Activision deal and discusses expanding into other genres

Facebook may be coming to PS3 in the near future, but the Xbox 360 integration of the famed social network is live and ready to use right now. Xbox 360 owners who turn on their machines now will suddenly find new entries for Facebook, Twitter and Last.FM – as well …