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

EA will add social networking - and perhaps music games - to its development capabilities thanks to the acquisition of SingShot, a San Francisco-based online karaoke community.

The former executives of Gathering of Developers have established a new publishing outfit, called – bizarrely - Gamecock Media Group.

More details have emerged regarding the expansion of Ubisoft's massive Montreal studio, revealing that a bulk of its hires will be graduates while the firm readies itself for future console generations.

Ubisoft Montreal is aiming to have over 3,000 staff under its roof by 2013 following a deal with the Canadian government - a move which would make it the world's largest games development studio.

The latest entry in our month-long series of profiles examining the biggest, most interesting, and influential studios in the UK and Europe looks at Fuse Games...

It's been a busy week for casual games news, and it's not letting up - Xbox Live Arcade boss Greg Canessa is to leave Microsoft and join Bejwelled developer PopCap, to help build that company's focus on non-PC platforms.

German studio Crytek is hoping to start licensing out its next-gen games tech CryENGINE2 once the software has been shown publically for the first time at GDC this March.

Internal development has been halted at EA's Japan office, according to reports on internet today. UPDATE: EA has confimed the closure, but says development still continues in the region via EA Partners.

Starting today, Micrsosft Casual Games will start sharing in-game advertising revenue with developer creating web-based casual games titles hosted on the MSN Games portal.

Our month-long series of profiles charting some of the biggest, most interesting, and influential studios in the UK and Europe rolls on. Today's target: Venom Games...