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

Casual publishing giant PopCap will release the iPhone and iPod Touch version of blockbuster hit Peggle on May 12th, it has been confirmed. To read the full story, click here to visit CasualGaming.biz.

Looking back at your first quarter, what would you say were the highlights for Sega? Alan Pritchard: Without a doubt Empire: Total War. The sell-through in the first weekend made this the fastest selling Total War game to date and consequentially took it to No.1 of the All Formats Charts. …

You might think it was naivety that had many claiming games were immune to the economic slowdown. Yet I suspect the opposite: an over-confidence born of previous recessions, which ignored how the games industry has grown and the vulnerabilities that entails.

WITH GROWTH expected to continue, Sega has promoted two of its senior management and hired a new marketing director. Alan Pritchard steps up from UK and northern territories to full European managing director from May 1st.At the same time, erstwhile sales director John Clark is stepping up to UK managing …

The National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) has defended its divisive ‘pathological addiction‘ study findings following criticism from academics, media outlets and, most vehemently, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). NIMF President Dr. David Walsh said that, regardless of the controversy, the study has provided the gaming industry, medical …

Former Woolworths games boss Gerry Berkley has returned to the industry four months after the retailer closed, MCV can reveal. Berkley has been appointed trading manager for entertainment at the Shop Direct Group, which owns Littlewoods, Choice and Empire Stores. In February, Shop Direct bought the rights for the Woolworths …

MICROSOFT’s Xbox strategy boss Richard Teversham has quit the firm to join arch rival Apple, MCV can reveal. The popular exec leaves his role as senior director of business, insights and strategy for Xbox, where he reported in to European VP of the firm’s interactive entertainment, Chris Lewis. MCV understands …

iPhone app developers are being invited to join social games firm SGNâ??s in-app advertising network.

Shares in Activision Blizzard saw a sizable spike yesterday ahead of the publisher’s quarterly earnings report. On Wednesday Activision’s share price peaked at $11.16 after closing the day prior at $10.30. The encouraging jump follows Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes upgrading the company’s shares from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Buy’, claiming in …

Programmers take the lionâ??s share while testers remain starving