MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
A response to Ghosts’ luke-warm reviews and sales declines? Or a reaction to the increased development needs of next-gen? Either way, Activision has changed it business model for the Call of Duty series by shifting the brand to a three-year development cycle. There will still be a new Call of …
Read More »Ubisoft: Lack of new consoles has "penalised" us
A second high-profile publisher figure has bemoaned the extended lifecycles of the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. "What we missed was a new console every five years," Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot told Gamasutra. "We have been penalized by the lack of new consoles on the market. I understand …
Read More »GAME: ‘Consumers want new hardware’
Retail giant GAME says new hardware launches will take the games industry back to full strength. The statement follows a difficult period for GAME, which posted a 17.6 per cent slump in sales over Christmas. The firm now admits that it might not meet some of its EBITDA covenants. But …
Read More »Former Activision exec calls for new consoles
Xbox 360 is approaching its sixth birthday, and the Wii and PS3 their fifth. This is when a new console cycle would traditionally begin. But the market has changed. The Wii U is on the way, of course, but a true next-gen console is at the very least two years …
Read More »Riccitiello: The console cycle has gone forever
It may be the case that new hardware is in the works at both Sony and Microsoft, but EA CEO John Riccitiello thinks that the console cycle as we know it is well and truly over. Most of us recognize that the industry has radically changed and the pace of …
Read More »It starts here: Next Xbox talk begins
Though we won’t know anything concrete for a long, long time to come, the very first roll of the dice on what will eventually become the next generation of console hardware seems to have been made.Eurogamer reports that three Microsoft job listings on LinkedIn point to the very early stages …
Read More »Another five years for Xbox 360?
Who knows,” Xbox’s UK and Ireland general manager Neil Thompson replied to MCV when we asked if the Xbox 360 can survive another five years on the market. He didn’t say this because he doesn’t know (let’s be clear – he will have an inkling, but he’s not letting), but …
Read More »McAfee bricks Windows XP PCs
An update to the popular McAfee anti-virus software has left many owners of PCs running Windows XP SP3 unable to use their machines. Software such as McAfee automatically updates its virus definitions (parameters by which the program identifies and isolated potentially malicious files) every time it boots. However, the most …
Read More »Retailers ready for longer cycle
The High Street has called for increased games hardware marketing from the industry if they are to really make the lengthier console generation work. Entertainment chains, online specialists and supermarkets have all told MCV they agree with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo’s strategies to extend the current hardware cycle. But they …
Read More »FEATURE: The longer console lifecycle
Last year, Microsoft’s game software boss Phil Spencer offered a telling quote about the direction of the games industry to MCV. It wasn’t about motion controllers or new online services – it was about the market forces that are allowing those things to appear: Do we need a new console? …
Read More »