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

Assassin’s Creed II has received 80 per cent more pre-orders than the original game. The figure was revealed by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot during the publisher’s financial call to investors. This exceeds previous estimate from Janco analyst Mike Hikey, who claimed pre-orders for the sequel were 10 to 20 per …

Make no mistake about it – in marketing terms we are at Defcon 1 as Activision ramps up the hype for next Tuesday’s global release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The latest move in this mindshare onslaught is a brand new HD trailer for the game which – …

The world’s top three global markets suffered a six per cent year-on-year overall drop in video games software unit sales in the three months to September (Q3). According to data from Top Global Markets – the integrated monthly report from The NPD Group (US), GfK Chart-Track Limited (UK) and Enterbrain, …

Konami has posted its fiscal results for the six months to September – with profits slipping 81.3 per cent to $24.6 million year-on-year. Revenues for the period stood at 113.9 billion ($1.26 billion) – down 22.5 percent from the 146.9 billion ($1.63 billion) the firm posted in H1 last year, …

Super-publisher Activision has called its Hero franchise as respected as Harley Davidson and the iPhone. In an exclusive interview with MCV, the firm discusses how Guitar Hero has become bigger than just a video game – with long-term planning key to its success. "Things like Guitar Hero has forced us …

A mid-week release, the postal strikes – all the ingredients are there for a street-date break on Activision’s Modern Warfare 2, but retailer HMV has quashed rumours that it had been the first to move. On Tuesday many HMV customers who had pre-ordered the game received emails from the retailer …

Look out Gem and Centresoft – a new distribution rival has emerged following a deal between The Producers and Trilogy. The two have teamed up under a ‘strategic alliance’ to offer an end-to-end service of manufacturing and logistics, plus white label home delivery, digital distribution and Nintendo products – which …

Unityâ??s Thomas Grové walks us through whatâ??s new in the Unity communityâ?¦

THQ continues to lick its wounds after admitting a year ago that its product line-up needed to be refocused. The publisher this evening announced it saw sales down 40 per cent year on year for the three month period ending September 30th, 2009. Net sales were $101.3 million, down from …

Just a month after the firm was blasted (inaccurately, it turned out) by Courtney Love, Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise is subject of another celebrity lawsuit. This time rock band No Doubt is up in arms over an appearance in Band Hero, which the group allege contravenes their licensing deal by …