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

Looking back at the year so far, what do you believe are THQ’s greatest achievements? We’ve had a relatively light first half this year. We’ve seen tremendous growth across our international territories and the offices we’ve opened in the past few years are now showing a great return on our …

SCEE is to push SingStar PS3 with one of the biggest marketing campaigns ever lavished on a social gaming title – featuring a demo of the title at London’s huge 02 Arena. Following on from the success of the SingStar Studios in central London and Manchester, the 02 Studios are …

Ubisoft has become the first major publisher to sign up to the recently announced Play.com Live entertainment show, and has guaranteed that its all-new titles for 2008 will be present at the event. Commenting on the support, head of games at Play.com Gian Luzio said: ‘We’re thrilled to have Ubisoft …

The last two weeks of releases have been the craziest of 2007 – but retail is doing a bang on job of ensuring that all festive big hitters get the exposure they deserve. That was the proud view of an overworked channel this week, as yet another slew of triple-A …

In the entertainment world, it is notoriously difficult to introduce something genuinely new and interesting to the masses. People fear change. Many would rather stick to their Shayne Ward CDs and rubbish Little Britain catchphrases. But the games industry is different. We are blessed with an audience that genuinely knows …

Ubisoft UK boss Rob Cooper has been celebrating the sales success of Assassin’s Creed – and stated that it proves new IP can still shift serious numbers at retail. The adventure title stormed into the ChartTrack All Formats listings at number one this week, becoming the third fastest-selling Xbox 360 …

Codemasters will smash through the 100m revenue barrier this year and rubber stamp its position as the fastest growing video games company in the world, according to CEO Rod Cousens. The British publisher this week posted its FY ‘07 results (ending June 20th) which showed sales up 38 per cent …

The UK office of Atari has moved to distance itself from worrying developments in the US – and spoken of its confidence in its ‘really impressive’ line-up for 2008. Last week, Atari’s US HQ announced that it was to completely withdraw from development – and focus solely on publishing and …

MCV sister site Licensing.biz reports that Codemasters Online has released the official game based on hit 1980s chick flick Dirty Dancing. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the classic date movie, fans can now step back to 1963 in the PC action puzzler, learn to dance with the resident …

MCV sister site Develop reports that although Xbox Live Arcade is often touted as a great way for independent developers to make money, it seems Jeff Minter has been discouraged following poor performance of his first game for the service. In a post on his LiveJournal, the famed indie designer …