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

MCV has learnt that Xbox 360 took the lion’s share of day-one sales of GTA IV – taking 55 per cent of the total 609,000 units that were sold in 24 hours. ChartTrack data shows 335,000 copies were sold on Microsoft’s machine – a new record for the console, beating …

Data obtained by MCV from official UK industry monitor ChartTrack shows that Rockstar’s GTA IV has become the fastest selling game ever in a 24 hour period. The figures – based on EPoS sales data and estimated retail transactions – show that total online and High Street sales for the …

A Gamestation source has responded to reports that a customer was stabbed as he waited in a queue to buy GTA IV in Croydon on Monday – claiming that the victim had categorically not pre-ordered the game”. According to the source, the incident was likely to have been caused by …

EA-Land, formely known as The Sims Online, is to be closed on August 1st. Next-gen reports that news was announced in an EA blog post, which said EA would be focusing its resources elsewhere. Subscription billing ends immediately, which means the game will be free for its final 60 days. …

No matter what country you're in, the economic climate is a cloudy one - and getting stormier by the day. But does that mean that tighter purse-strings will mean less people willing to shell out for games? Not so, says

Rainbow Studios and Sandblast Games see staff cuts

German developer blames piracy for multi-platform direction change

EA Sports president Peter Moore has likened the marketing strength of the label to that of Hollywood movies – calling it the only real brand in video games”. In an interview with GameDaily, Moore said that EA Sports division has the opportunity to touch more people than hardcore sports gamers” …

We find out what makes Kuju's kids game studio tick

The third of Kuju's studios to rebrand, Nik Nak was set a clear mission: to develop games for kids. But as the studio ramps up production of its first two titles, how are they finding the process of chasing after a famously fickle demographic?