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

Activision Blizzard has excelled expectations by posting revenues of $981 million for its first quarter in 2009, along with profits rising to $189 million, all driven by a strong slate lucrative franchises such as Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. Those figures had smashed analyst expectations, as …

â??Online gamingâ?? group set to join Microsoft Game Studios, will show its first title at E3

The development boss of Google’s AdWords, AdSense and Google Apps services has joined EA’s board of directors. Jeff Huber, who will continue to serve as senior VP of engineering at Google, previously held management positions at eBay and Excite@Home. He said: EA has an exciting vision for innovating and delivering …

Former EA free-to-play manager Shintaro Kanaoya joins Britsoft firm

On the back of THQ’s recent financial results, CEO Brian Farrell has stated that he believes Sony will cut the price of PS3 this year, whilst also admitting that the Wii market is slowing. We are not expecting a price cut at E3 but we do expect one later in …

Japanese development conference heads to Yokohama Pacifico; 150 sessions planned

The industry’s most notable faces met with Labour Ministers last week – to discuss games’ exclusion from a major Government report into ‘Britain’s online future’. The Digital Britain report, headed up by Lord Stephen Carter, aims to ‘secure the UK’s digital future’, and maximise the country’s economic online potential. However, …

Indeed, the latest GfK-ChartTrack figures this week suggest healthy hardware sales and a slightly up software sector. No wonder, then that we continue to chronicle the expanding nature of games retail. As HMV CEO Simon Fox says elsewhere in this issue, the retail landscape has changed more in the last …

The strength and virtues of the UK game development sector is not being recognised by politicians due to a ‘generation gap’. This was the explanation given by Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley as numerous game businesses and industry groups across the UK call on Brown’s government to provide better support for …

Leading UK games retailer GAME has announced that current group finance director David Thomas is leaving his post and will be replaced in July by Ben White. Barratt leaves to become group finance director at Barratt Developments. White will leave his current post of group reporting and investor relations director …