MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts may be the best-performing next-gen launch game, but it is still falling far behind predecessor Black Ops II’s commercial success. That’s according to Cowen & Company’s Doug Creutz, as reported by VentureBeat. Upon further reflection, we think the [Call of Duty] numbers are a bit …
Read More »The War Z taken down after database hack
Things don’t get any better for The War Z. Having already been forced off Steam following controversy about missing content and inaccurate game descriptions, the poorly received zombie shooter has now suffered at the hands of hackers. Creators OP Productions have taken the game and its forum completely offline while …
Read More »UPDATE: Microsoft insists that Xbox Live won’t be down for long
Xbox Live has been down most of this morning. And gamers are not at all happy. It doesn’t help, of course, that today’s the day that the second piece of DLC for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, called Hearthfire, is out now. But despite no sign of a reprieve Microsoft tells …
Read More »PlayStation: ‘The walled garden model is breaking down’
The days of closed platforms like PS1, PS2 and PS3 are coming to an end, admits Sony. PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan told MCV the firm is entering a ‘big bad world where there are no rules’ and that it is re-thinking what it means to be a platform holder. …
Read More »THQ rumoured to close Japan publishing arm
THQ is set to close its Japan publishing arm at the end of this month, according to reports. These suggest the decision was made to close the office after the recent well-documented financial troubles of its parent company, based in North America. THQ recently axed 240 staff, with CEO Brian …
Read More »Black Ops beats Modern Warfare 3 by 0.5m copies in UK
Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 may have shattered records left, right and centre, but it fell far short of its predecessor in the UK. As revealed by MCV this morning, ERA’s 2011 UK Entertainment charts reveals that Modern Warfare 3 sold 2,814,609 copies in the UK between its …
Read More »GAME.co.uk back up and running after down time
The GAME Group has apologised for the technical issues that have marred the re-launch of the GAME and Gamestation websites. Both portals are now up and running. The pair were re-launched last Friday, gathering much attention. Gamestation’s 99 Xbox 360 console promotion, in particular, saw a record number of visitors …
Read More »PSN’s 43 day nightmare is over
Sony has this morning confirmed that the PlayStation Store is being turned back on around the world. It’s recovery marks the full restoration of PSN. In total the full service was down for 43 days, or just over six weeks. "I’m happy to confirm that PlayStation Store is open and …
Read More »XBL Marketplace back online after outage
The Xbox Live Marketplace was inoperable for a brief period last night, though Microsoft has insisted that the problems were not due to any kind of hack or intrusion. Following the mystery disappearance of both the Xbox 360 and online version of Marketplace, MS issued the following press statement: "Users …
Read More »UK retail suffers March fall
Almost one million fewer games were sold at UK retail last month compared to the same period in 2010. The latest figures from GfK Chart-Track paints a bleak picture of the UK games market. In total, 19.3 per cent fewer games were sold last month compared to March 2010, with …
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