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

French publisher to buy Gameloft's Pune-based studio, with plans to employ 500 staff - move follows new teams in Japan and China

Opinion piece by our executive editor examines the state of play for independent games studios

RETAIL CATEGORY Independent Retailer: Grainger Games Specialist Retailer: GAME Entertainment Retailer: HMV Online Retailer: Play.com Star Store: Zavvi, Oxford Street PR & MARKETING CATEGORY PR Team: Nintendo Game Campaign: Halo 3 (Microsoft) New Games Brand: Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft) Trade Marketing Team: Electronic Arts Marketing Team: Nintendo PEOPLE & INDUSTRY CATEGORY …

Blockbuster has launched a bid for US retailer Circuit City worth more than $1 billion, with the entertainment retailer suggesting that the move would help it compete more efficiently with the likes of Best Buy and Apple’s retail operations. Blockbuster’s chief executive James Keyes claimed that the combined company, which …

Nintendo has grabbed the number one spot in ChartTrack/ELSPA’s all formats weekly sales rankings with Mario Kart Wii – knocking Sony’s Gran Turismo 5: Prologue into second place. The title recorded the eighth biggest opening sales week in UK software history to claim the top spot in the week, ending …

The boss of the studio behind the Gran Turismo series has said that the franchise may expand beyond the PlayStation format for the first time in its history – with a PC version in China. Speaking to German site derStandard, Kazunori Yamauchi, head of Sony’s Polyphony Digital team, said: It …

Jagex, Sony, Microsoft Game Studios, Blitz, Rebellion and Kuju all aboard for games career fairs starting next week

US VP Christian Svensson says he 'fully expects' firm start making WiiWare titles soon as well

The president of Japanese market authority Enterbrain – parent company of Famitsu – has predicted that Nintendo will unveil a new DS model at E3 in July. According to Bloomberg Japan – translated by akayuki.com – Hirokazu Hamamura said Nintendo might be readying to show off the third iteration of …

Head of Polyphony Digital also says Sony franchise may have to hit PC for Chinese market