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

Japanese giant Namco Bandai has its eye on a top five market share position in Europe, following the completion of its buyout of Atar’s PAL distribution business. The new company is tasked with growing Namco’s established franchises, including Tales of Symphonia, Tekken and Katamari, in Europe, and wants to be amongst …

MTV and Harmonix are set to revolutionise the Rock Band games with a groundbreaking initiative that will allow all bands and musicians submit their own music for download. But the move won’t just dramatically shift Rock Band’s relationship with the music industry, it will also mark a turning point for …

Brightonâ??s leading games industry conference set for July 2010

Publisher Sega has confirmed that Platinum Games’ Bayonetta will the Q4 2009 release window and is now due for release some time in early 2010. The game joins other high-profile delayess such as Heavy Rain, BioShock 2, Red Dead Redemption, Mafia II, Alan Wake, Singularity and God of War III.

 …

The dust has barely settled on the news that Activision and other publishers will be raising their prices this Q4 – but it has emerged that retailer Argos is this week set to follow suit. The firm is expected to increase its prices by five per cent in its new …

Publishers need to consider the ‘wider context’ of ads for violent games if they don’t want to see them banned from TV. That’s according to the Advertising Standards Agency, which will next week release new guidance for games publishers and their ad agencies. MCV understands that this will encourage publishers …

New outfit holds 45 staff, together working on two next-gen titles

James Batchelor speaks with leading publishers about the reasons for this genre’s impressive growth and find out how they plan to capitalise on Nintendo’s success… As MCV reported last week, Wii Fit is so far the best-selling game of 2009. And it launched over a year ago. Where other games …

Engine firm doubles sales, community participation and staffing

EA’s Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince has climbed three places to take the top spot in ELSPA/GfK-ChartTrack’s All Formats Top 40 this week – boosted by the release of the movie in cinemas. The publisher’s own Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 drops from No.1 to No.3, with sales …