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

After years of losses, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division has for the first time reported a profit, raking in operating income of $165 million for the quarter ending September 30th – a stark improvement over the $142 million loss in the same period last year. The Division’s revenue reached $1.93 …

LEADING developers have spoken out against pre-owned games at retail – warning that studios could turn their back on the ‘traditional’ publishing model if the trend continues. TimeSplitters and Haze developer Free Radical Design and Frontier Developments’ David Braben have both told MCV that the current system is flawed – …

Free Radical and Frontier slam 'jumble sale' second-hand games market

Midway has lined up a heavyweight marketing campaign for upcoming shooter Unreal Tournament III. Promotional activity will kick off at fast-growing championship gaming centre Omega Sektor in Birmingham, as part of what the publisher is calling a ‘massive European-wide launch’. UT3 tournaments will take place across the continent, whilst the …

Watch out Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s: Woolworths has promised to outspend its supermarket rivals in a bid to be crowned entertainment king this Christmas. And the general retailer has promised an ‘aggressive’ focus on games in its marketing – which recently became a bigger moneyspinner for the firm than either …

Representatives from Crytek, Blitz and Ninja Theory to present talks

Established High Street and online games retailers risk losing significant share to broadband suppliers, and possibly even utility companies, if they do not embrace digital distribution. That is the robust view of Pierre Gaudet, CEO of Europe’s leading games digital distribution outfit Metaboli, which has begun a renewed effort in …

The games industry is complex and must keep its house in order, but it is also much admired and increasingly understood by the current Government. That was the message put across forcibly by Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport Margaret Hodge this week, as she made an encouraging …

101 applications for funding sought in 2007 alone

The DS continues to dominate the Japanese software charts, but it’s the notable efforts of PS2 and 360 that capture the eye in Media Create’s latest Japanese Top 30, Kotaku reports. Seaman 2, Sega’s PS2 sequel to it’s voice controlled 1999 Dreamcast curiosity, has bettered the opposition by capturing the …