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

A record number of North American stores opened at midnight last night to usher in Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Activision Blizzard reports that more than 10,000 retail outlets opened their doors at 12am precisely, allowing consumers to pick up the hugely popular FPS as soon as possible. The …

UK retail sales for October saw the market climb at its fastest pace since Easter, recording the best performance in October for seven years, analysts say. According to the British Retail Consortium, UK retail sales values climbed 3.8 per cent last month when compared to October 2008. On a total …

US retail giant GameStop has revealed it received more pre-orders for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 than any other game before it. As the world continues to celebrate the launch of the highly anticipated shooter, GameStop’s executive vice president of merchandising and marketing Tony Bartel points to the chain’s …

HMV has forecast Modern Warfare 2 will become the first game to top one million week-one UK sales – taking the title as the industry’s fastest-selling software release of all time. The retailer today predicted that the games would smash previous sales records held by GTA IV – supporting publishers’ …

The Alternative Edition of Resident Evil 5 will be heading to PSN and Xbox Live Marketplace as DLC. Capcom has confirmed it has opted against a boxed product version following the results of its recent poll. Over 1500 participants voted for the content to be released as a digital download, …

Sony’s video distribution service is coming to European PS3 users early, set to launch in late November. The launch window was confirmed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and is considerably earlier than the previously given date of ‘2010′. The movies-on-demand service was announced during this year’s Gamescom. The first movies …

Electronic Arts has revealed that the vast majority of its global staff cuts will be made in its own development studios. Some 900 EA developers across numerous studios will be laid off, compared to the 500 cuts in publishing and 100 in corporate affairs. The total staff cuts are expected …

Armin Gessert – a development veteran of twenty-five years and founder of Spellbound Entertainment – passed away on Sunday Nov 8 following a heart attack. His distraught team at German studio Spellbound is leading tributes for their friend and leader, a man who founded the successful studio back in 1994. …

Electronic Arts’ ruthless culling of dead wood – if not Dead Space – will hit a new high next year: Its FY2011 (Apr 1st 2010 – Mar 31st 2011) line-up will be 50 per cent lighter than its games roster from FY2009. That’s according to CEO John Riccitiello, who told …

Our Canada Special continues with a look one of the most recent converts to Québec