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

NCsoft is to close its European development team just a year after its founding. MCV sister site Develop understands that staff at the Brighton-based studio – which shares its offices with the NCsoft’s UK publishing, QA and MMO support teams – were notified on Monday night of the plans to …

Sony is set to capitalise on the popularity of ABBA musical movie Mamma Mia with an officially licensed SingStar game of the Swedish band. The title is due for release on PS3 and PS2 in Europe and the US this Christmas, and represents a ‘window of exclusivity for ABBA disc-based …

The biggest selling newspaper in the UK, The Sun, has printed perhaps its most shocking games-related headline yet: ‘SEX BEAST COPIED GRAND THEFT AUTO’. And, yes, it’s all capital letters. On page nine of today’s newspaper, the UK tabloid reports on the court case of Ryan Chinnery, 19, who yesterday …

Quebec event boosted with key speaker signings

1. Developers will become service providers The rise of MMOs, the popularity of downloadable extras, the longer shelf-life of games open to user-generated content, and the need to monetize pre-owned game sales will all change games companies’ relationship with their audience. The days of the fire-and-forget triple-A titles are numbered, …

Respected business publication Forbes Magazine has predicted that search engine giant Google may soon make a move into video games publishing. In an editorial entitled, ‘Will Google Play Games?’ (the full version of which you can read here) journalist Chris Morris writes: ‘Is Google as a videogame publisher within the …

But publishing and QA interests are expected to remain in place, says source

Morrisons’ eyebrow-raising deals on video games this week could force prices down at GAME and start a ‘bloody war’ according to the national press. Games on offer at the supermarket include Mercenaries 2 on Xbox 360 for 25, Spore Creatures for just 12.99 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour ’09 All …

Fallout 3 publisher Bethesda has confirmed that the cuts made to its upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG in order to gain the approval of Australian censors have been incorporated into the international version of the title. The Aussie authorities took exception to references to morphine contained in the game, the result of …

The closure of Microsoft Game Studios’ Ensemble team has been confirmed. Last night it was rumoured that the Halo Wars developer would be closed, and now an official statement from the format holder has confirmed the decision. To read the full story, head over to the internet’s primary stop for …