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

Starting May 2017 developers whose games contain random loot box drops will be required to reveal the underlying odds. Games such as Overwatch, Hearthstone and Counter-Strike reward players who both complete in-game tasks and pay cash with digital loot boxes, the contents of which vary. Rare and valuable items can …

AD&D, a new partnership formed by UK agency Attention Seekers and US events giants Done & Dusted, has said it wants to do for competitive gaming what Sky did for football. The firm has said that it wants to revolutionise how eSports is presented and make them more accessible to …

Platform holder Xbox has said that 2016 has been a mixed year for the games market. UK marketing boss Harvey Eagle said that the performance of this year’s releases has varied wildly. A number of titles, including Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Titanfall 2, Watch Dogs 2 and Dishonored 2 …

For the last issue of 2016, MCV delivers its annual retail survey. We talked to over 170 indie and big-chain games retailers about the year’s ups and downs. From the most anticipated game of 2017 to the launch of VR, all the results and analysis are in this week’s issue. …

New VR contender Google Daydream has revealed an additional seven apps heading the service’s way. Heading up the list is CCP’s EVE Gunjack 2: End of Shift. Exclusive to Google’s headset, the space shooter differs from Valkyrie in that players are sat in a comparatively stationary pod and not freely …

Publisher Capcom has said that Resident Evil 7 will be its biggest launch on the current generation of hardware. Speaking to MCV, EMEA marketing director Antoine Molant said that the firm’s ambition is to sell 4m units in its first day on shelves worldwide. The exec cites strong pre-orders for …

Nintendo’s upcoming smartphone platformer Super Mario Run will only work if the player is connected to the internet. Unlike our dedicated game devices, the game is not releasing in a limited number of countries. We’re launching in 150 countries and each of those countries has different network environments and things …

Rumours that Activision may be preparing to ditch the Skylanders series have intensified with news that developer Vicarious Visions is now working on Destiny. A tweet from Bungie carried the message: Vicarious Visions is excited to announce that we are partnering with Bungie to further expand the award-winning Destiny universe.” …

The PS4 was the best-selling console in the US in November. The victory halts what had been a four-month stretch of wins for Xbox One, prior to which Sony’s machine had enjoyed a prolonged stint of dominance. NPD’s official sales data won’t be released until next week, but Microsoft’s statement …

Byrne has previous experience with Bullfrog, EA, Playfire and Rovio