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

Supermarket giant Tesco will introduce games to its new entertainment media download service, Tesco Digital. The portal will launch next month, and will offer 3.3 million songs to consumers from day one. According to Brand Republic, the site is all part of Tesco’s plan to take on Apple. The site …

Ubisoft has added another studio to its large and growing global development empire, having agreed to buy Gameloft’s Pune, India-based studio. Opened at the end of 2006, the studio employs 120 developers and testers. At first they will initially port titles to handheld consoles and support Ubisoft’s other testing teams. …

Midway’s European managing director Martin Spiess has been promoted to the position of international executive VP for Midway Games Ltd. And Spiess isn’t the only Midway employee to be granted a new role – Miguel Iribarren has become senior VP of publishing for parent Midway Games Inc. Former VP of …

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