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

Players who were hoping for a 2017 release for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III may be disappointed. Speaking to Famitsu, director Tetsuya Nomura gave an update on the development status for both titles and apparently they won’t be launching anytime soon. We’re steadily progressing on …

Lionsgate has become the latest investor in the Immortals organisation, joining the likes of Linkin Park, Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Steve Kaplan and Allen Debevoise, chairman at Machinima.com.  The deal sees Lionsgate throw in a chunk of cash that will be used to fund new content based on the Immortals teams. …

Zei9, the CEO of Chinese organisation Newbee has created a new Dota team called Newbee Boss that features stars and himself.  After retiring just over a week ago Zhang "xiao8" Ning has returned to active play for the team, and is joined by fellow Chinese legends Wong "ChuaN" Hock Chuan …

Ubisoft is rolling out a closed beta for its brand new combat IP For Honor at the end of the month. The test will take place between January 26th and January 29th, and is for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Those interested in taking part can sign up here. …

The Miami Heat has invested in eSports organisation Misfits.  The former NBA champions announced a strategic partnership with the organisation that sees the Heat acquire a stake in the team and help out with areas such as marketing, branding, promotion, retail, digital and sponsorship activation. The stake acquired is Misfits …

Niantic’s hit mobile game Pokmon Go may not launch in China due to government concerns. As reported by Reuters, the Chinese government has said it will not license augmented reality and location-based titles in the country until potential security risks have been assessed. The region’s State Administration of Press, Publication, …

The developer behind the now-canned Xbox and Windows 10 exclusive Scalebound has issued a statement about the project’s demise. Writing on Platinum’s website, president and CEO Kenichi Sato said that the studio was disappointed with how the hack and slash project has ended up. The exec was keen to point …

THQ Nordic has announced that the Windows 10 version of Halo Wars 2 will receive a worldwide physical release at retail when it launches on February 21st. An ultimate edition will also be available in addition to the standard version. Both the standard and ultimate editions of the game will …

Azubu has announced that it has acquired rival streaming platform Hitbox.  The deal, which was reported by the LA Times, is apparently worth “tens of millions of dollars in cash,” and sees Hitbox merge into the Azubu company.  In early 2017 the company will launch a new service that combined …

Virtually successful