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

The global boss of Activision’s Guitar Hero brand has told MCV that the firm is ‘evaluating’ whether to create more artist-specific releases to go up against MTV’s The Beatles: Rock Band – pointing to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd as possible candidates. Speaking in an exclusive interview, Dan Ronsensweig said …

The BBC and Nintendo have announced that an iPlayer Channel will be available on the Wii next week. A dedicated BBC iPlayer Channel will be available to download from November 18th, granting Wii owners access to on-demand catch-up TV and radio programming. The channel will offer a new full-screen user …

GUITAR HERO CEO Dan Rosensweig isn’t actually very good at the game his division of Activision is so famous for. My fingers can’t keep up with the speed,” he jokes to MCV when talking about the $2bn dollar franchise, admitting he’s more of a fan of DJ Hero – the …

Downloadable content sales for Dragon Age: Origins have already surpassed the $1 million mark. This figure does not include the free DLC that was available with various boxed sets and pre-order SKUs of the game. During its presentation at the BMO Capital Markets conference, Electronic Arts revealed this landmark had …

While the firmâ??s CEO John Pleasants talks up future growth

GameStop has announced its customers will soon be able to purchase DLC at the tills. The retailer will trial be trialling the new program early next year, which will work in conjunction with Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, according to Reuters. Announced at the BMO Capital Management Digital Entertainment conference, …

Disney has announced its full-year annual profit dropped 25 per cent in FY2009 – down to $3.3 billion. Full year revenues dipped four per cent to $36.1 billion the 12 months to October 3rd, down from $4.42 billion in fiscal 2008. The Interactive Media segment of the business – which …

Just days after shedding 1,500 jobs, Electronic Arts says it's looking to pull in staff to "maintain capacity"

Overall sales in the U.S. tipped just over $1 billion in October, down from $1.32 billion in 2008. Hardware sales were down 18% from $497 to $381 with software down 17% from $698 to $573. Accessories dipped by 2% to $119. In a posting released Thursday afternoon, NPD group analyst …

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference in New York on Thursday, chief financial officer Eric Brown said, "We will be hiring back positions in low-cost locations to maintain capacity." EA has sliced back on its release roster and its development staff – 16% of its overall headcount …