MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Developer Jagex has launched a new game today, and is letting gamers play it for free this weekend. Anyone that likes the title, can then buy it for 15% off for a week. The new title is Block N Load, a multiplayer shooter that is available via Steam. The free …
Read More »Xbox Q3 revenue drops 24% as price cutting hits bottom line
Microsoft sold 1.6m Xbox consoles for three months ending March 31st, a drop of 400,000 year-on-year. That number includes Xbox 360 and Xbox One sales, and the platform holder has not split out the performance of these machines. This performance meant that Xbox revenue was down 24 per cent year-on-year …
Read More »Will anyone win the toys-to-life war?
It’s a little known fact that the term ‘toys-to-life’ is actually an Activision trademark. The publisher coined the phrase to describe its 2011 game and toy hybrid, Skylanders, and it has since been adopted by executives at Disney, Nintendo and Warner Bros. At that time, Activision hoped Skylanders would go …
Read More »Opinion: Pre-order? Why bother?
Is it really any surprise gamers are becoming more reluctant to pre-order? Over the past 12 months, there have been several examples of games that just didn’t live up to their expectations; games that launched full of bugs, and online games that couldn’t actually connect online. We can recall at …
Read More »Nintendo pledges more stock after Amiibo ‘smashes’ expectations
Nintendo has admitted that the popularity of its Amiibo range took the platform holder by surprise. The toys-to-life products are sold out at most UK retailers, with pre-orders of new models being snapped up in minutes. Some retailers have even raised the price of the models to capitalise on their …
Read More »‘Absolute madness’: retail bemoans shooter pile-up
The three biggest games of the year will all come out within weeks of one another. Last week at the Star Wars Celebration in California, EA announced that Star Wars: Battlefront will launch on November 20th. The game will compete with Halo 5: Guardians (out October 27th) and Call of …
Read More »Pre-order crisis looms as 3.4m UK gamers hold off
Fewer UK consumers are pre-ordering video games, MCV can reveal. 20 per cent of UK gamers say they are either pre-ordering fewer titles, or have stopped pre-ordering altogether. This comes from a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI’s GameTrack project on behalf of MCV. Nine per cent of those surveyed said …
Read More »Grand Theft Auto V was really this week’s No.1
Grand Theft Auto V was this week’s No.1 game in the UK if digital numbers were included, MCV understands. This week’s GfK Chart-Track report reveals that Mortal Kombat X was the best-selling UK boxed game. But the data does not factor in sales on digital platforms such as Steam. PC …
Read More »Phil Harrison departs Xbox
Phil Harrison will leave Microsoft, the firm has confirmed. The former Sony exec joined Microsoft as European Corporate VP of Xbox in 2012, and was in charge of studios including Rare and Lionhead. That role now falls to Kudo Tsunoda. Following a successful tenure as Corporate Vice President in Xbox …
Read More »UK retail expects toys-to-life growth as LEGO enters the fray
Leading UK games retailers expect the toys-to-life genre to get even bigger this year with the arrival of LEGO Dimensions. Warner Bros’ game will unite LEGO characters such as Gandalf and Batman, and is coming to Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U on September 29th. The title …
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