MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The Conservative Party has launched a microsite explaining the reasons why it believes the UK video games industry is worthy of a tax break. The coalition’s gaming tax breaks will come into effect on April 1st and could see dev costs slashed by 25 per cent for those projects that …
Read More »Apple to skip iPhone 5S and release iPhone 6 this year?
Rumours suggest that Apple might drop its iPhone 5 design completely and launch a fully-redesigned iPhone later this year. PCR reports that app developers have noticed references to iPhone6,1” in their dev logs, as well as references to iOS 7. This is the same pattern that appeared before the announcement …
Read More »Metacritic bemoans 2012’s lack of quality
Significantly fewer games received an average review score of 90 per cent or above in 2012 than they did in the preceding three years. That’s according to review aggregation site Metacritic, which says that just 18 games (14 of which were on console) achieved the higher score bracket last year. …
Read More »Overall UK games market down 17.4% in 2012
The ERA has said that the UK video games market declined 17.4 per cent to 1.598bn in 2012. Those numbers include both physical and digital sales. By contrast, music was down just 5.5 per cent and video 10 per cent. The overall entertainment market decline was 12 per cent, with …
Read More »VIDEO: First gameplay footage of Activision’s Walking Dead game
Activision has released the first gameplay footage of its own take on The Walking Dead. Developed by Terminal Reality (Star Wars Kinect, Def Jam Rapstar, Ghostbusters, Bloodrayne), the game offers a different take on the IP that has already enjoyed video game success at the hands of Telltale and its …
Read More »FIFA 11 among several EA titles to lose online features
EA has announced a list of titles whose online support will be terminated on January 11th. The most notable game is FIFA 11, for which both online play and Ultimate Team functionality will be shut off. Also facing the chop are NFL 11, NBA Jam and FIFA Manager 11. The …
Read More »UK digital games sales pass £500m in 2012
A report being published by the Entertainment Retailers Association will this morning say that digital sales in the UK passed 1bn in 2012. That represents the amount spent on games, music and films in 2012, although games accounted for over half of the total at 552m, climbing 7.7 per cent. …
Read More »2012: Despite it all, look what we achieved
It has been a brutal year for nearly everyone working in the video games business. Be you a publisher struggling to keep out of the red, a developer facing project cancellations or a retailer trying to sell games in a dramatically contracting market, it’s been one of the toughest. But …
Read More »Far Cry 3 claims 2012’s last All Formats No.1
Ubisoft has finished 2012 on a high after claiming a double win in the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40. Continued price activity on shooter Far Cry 3 sees the critically applauded title claim No.1, knocking Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 off the top for the first …
Read More »MCV’s 11 most read stories of 2012
2012 was, for want of a better word, a veritable BOMB of news, both inside and outside the world of video games. And whilst the games industry may have not quite matched the national billing of events such as phone hacking, the Olympics, tax dodging, Jimmy Saville and the Arab …
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