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

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that over a million consumers have signed up for PlayStation Network accounts in Japan. PSN went online in the region in November, 2006 – and Sony revealed that since then 400,000 players have accessed the store each month. According to Japanese games site Game Watch …

Play.com have given UK Rock Band fans something to smile about – by cutting the total cost for Rock Band and all the game’s instruments by 40. According to MTV and EA, the suggested UK retail price of the ‘Band In a Box’ SKU of Rock Band – which includes …

Nintendo development boss Shigeru Miyamoto has said he uses his imagination less in game creation than he did five years ago – leading to more ‘realistic’ software ideas. Talking to The New York Times, the man behind Donkey Kong, Mario and Wii said that he was flattered” by comparisons of …

Square Enix has posted a full fiscal year profit of 9.2 billion Japanese Yen ($88.5 million) for the 12 months to March 31st, 2008 – down 20.9 per cent year-on-year. Sales also fell in the period, down 9.8 per cent to 147.5 billion Yen ($1.42 billion), with declining revenues most …

Ubisoft has been busy and you don’t have to look very hard to find the evidence. When Assassins’s Creed was released last year, it became the fastest-selling new IP in five year. And with a 36 per cent rise in profits in the last financial year, plus the release of …

Nintendo Japan has struck a deal with McDonalds for a browser branded with the restaurant’s logo available to DS users. The application connects to a page of McDonald’s news and also has links to current McDonald’s promotions and nutritional information. According to Siliconera, Nintendo will offer DS demos and a …

Funcom-developed MMO Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has attracted over 400,000 gamers online – with almost half coming from the North American market. Funcom also reported substantial traffic to the Age of Conan websites, with more than 2.2 million unique visitors during the last ten days. The initial sales and …

Wii Fit has overtaken the PS3 version of Rockstar’s GTA IV in the Spanish entertainment software chart. The Rockstar title slips to second in its third week on the chart, with the 360 version of the title dropping down to fifth. However, GTA still rules the roost elsewhere across Europe. …

Developer-cum-publisher Data Design Interactive has opened a new US office in Sarasota, Florida. The studio will operate as a separate US registered company. The firm says the HQ can ‘provide the correct creative atmosphere required to work effectively on today’s demanding Next-Gen projects’ – including PS3 and Xbox 360 titles. …

Developer will start axing jobs unless it becomes more mainstream, say rumours