MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The development team behind Call of Duty Ghosts has more staff than ever, despite losing almost 50 members of staff after a 2010 scandal. The team that created the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare brands almost collapsed following a dispute with its parent company Activision. Infinity Ward’s founders were …
Read More »World of Warcraft loses over 1m subscribers
But MMO still boasts eight million players
Read More »Activision boss Kotick is one of the highest paid CEOs in the US
Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick has had his compensation increased eight fold to $64.9m last year, according to Bloomberg. The man in charge of the publisher received a new employment agreement in March 2012, which awarded the CEO stock in the value of $55.9m over his five-year contract. Kotick won’t …
Read More »Paul Collins joins Activision’s recruitment team
THQ's former global recruitment manager now at Call of Duty publisher
Read More »Target achieved: Skylanders is a $1bn franchise
The Skylanders series has now reached $1bn in just 15 months. That’s according to Activision, which has combined sales of toys, accessories, Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants. It follows Activision chief Bobby Kotick’s pledge to create a new $1bn franchise out of the toy series. The firm says its toy …
Read More »Skylanders toys make up 25% of UK accessories market
25 per cent of all accessories sold in the UK last year were Skylanders toys. Activision’s kids franchise was the UK’s biggest physical games brand last year, with around 6.2m figures sold. Skylanders has been a retail phenomenon and has generated over $500m in the US. It sits just behind …
Read More »Blizzard to discuss next-gen photorealism at GDC
Presentation on the game mechanics of Total War also added to roster
Read More »Gearbox rejected chance to develop Call of Duty
'It wouldn't enhance our reputation as a studio and it wouldn't really motivate our team', says Randy Pitchford
Read More »Skylanders amasses $500m in US
More than $195m raised in just two months from Skylanders Giants
Read More »UK boss Peter Hepworth leaves Activision
Activision’s UK and Ireland MD Peter Hepworth has left the Call of Duty publisher, MCV can reveal. Hepworth joined the company in 2005 and he replaced Andrew Brown as UK MD in August 2011. But he has decided to leave the firm to pursue new opportunities. Brown will now take …
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