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

Gaming’s position atop of the UK entertainment hierarchy was given a serious boost last week as strong sales of Capcom’s chart-topping Resident Evil 5 saw gaming streak ahead of both music and film. Stats from Verdict research show that last weekend RE5 outsold every item in the UK singles charts …

UK retailers have told MCV they are ‘surprised’ by news that Nintendo has raised the trade cost of the Wii, and are currently evaluating a new street price. Nintendo Wii’s trade price is set to increase by around 16.50 (approximately 19 including VAT) due to the ‘continuing depreciation of the …

As part of its ongoing drive to cut costs amidst the tough global economic climate, Sony has announced that it is to put a freeze on staff wages for the year beginning April 2009, Reuters reports. Japanese paper Nikkei has stated that in addition worker’s bonuses will be lowered from …

Play.com’s head of games Gian Luzio has left the online giant, MCV has learnt. Luzio had been employed at Play for seven years, and picked up three MCV Awards for best online retailer in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Play.com games team claimed Golden Joystick awards for best retailer in …

Ubisoft’s search for a new UK marketing director is over: the publisher has confirmed to MCV that it has hired Microsoft man Murray Pannell for the job. The impressive swoop ends a six-year stint for Pannell (pictured) at Microsoft, where he was group product manager for Xbox 360 and Games …

Metal Gear creator is now 'Managing Director Operating Officer and Studio Head' at his studio

Sony Computer Entertainment’s UK boss Ray Maguire believes the games industry must work harder to change negative perceptions. Writing exclusively for MCV, Maguire has reflected on the recent Department of Health advert which targeted gaming as a dangerously sedentary pursuit. He says that rather than being outraged, the industry must …

I must admit that when I first saw the Change 4 Life ‘PlayStation’ ad I felt exactly the same way as everyone else. How could this happen? How could the Department of Health and the charities, the ad agency, all get this so wrong? It was sloppy marketing to say …

As you may notice while reading this, we’ve launched an exciting new look for the MCV website. The sleek upgrade reinforces our position as the leading games industry website, featuring news, industry comment, interviews with leading names in the trade – and a vast resource for retailers, Retail Biz. Retail …

The Advertising Standards Authority will not uphold complaints against charity-backed ads which implied video games are a health risk, MCV understands. Last week, MCV broke the news that the Government’s Change4Life campaign had put together a print campaign backed by the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Cancer Research, which …