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

EA has scored its sixth Christmas number on in eight years – FIFA 09 has claimed the top spot and trumped the favourite Call of Duty: World at War. Retailer promotions saw sales of FIFA 09 rocket by 89 per cent according to the weekly sales data from Gfk-ChartTrack. Call …

10 per cent of workforce to go as part of $120m cost savings; Black Box studio first to close

With 2008 drawing to a close, MCV looks back at the news that defined the last 12 months in the games industry. In Q1 we saw the demise of HD-DVD, Gordon Brown throw a menacing glare at gaming, trouble at SCi, confident predictions from Woolworths, high-profile departures and hires at …

Electronic Arts has announced further details of its recently-announced restructuring plan which will see a reduction in its global headcount. 1,000 staff – or around 10 per cent of the EA workforce – are to go as the publisher consolidates its development resources around the world. The new statement increases …

But developer still having 'ongoing Microsoft discussions' about a sequel to 360 game

Ruffian opens its doors, founded by former Realtime Worlds staff

HMV could introduce gaming to ‘millions’ of new consumers, as the chain puts the finishing touches to its specialist games offer. At least that’s according to HMV Group CEO and UK and Ireland MD Simon Fox, who is delighted following the successful acquisition of Gamerbase and the launch of the …

US independent continuing to suffer and will shut for good say reports

Deloitte, the administrators looking after the shut down of Woolworths, has this morning sent out a list of all the stores and dating their closure. Stores across the UK start closing on December 27th, with the last stores closing on January 5th 2009. The full list is as follows: Aberdare27 …

Game Domain International has launched the public beta of its digital distribution platform AWOMO. The service, which boasts the ability to let players run triple-A PC titles direct from a web browser rather than having to wait to download them, has opened to the public with a free games offer. …