MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Time spent gaming on smartphones and tablets continued its upward trend last year, but at a significantly slower rate compared to 2013. Research from mobile analytics firm Flurry claims 2014 mobile game usage grew 30 per cent from 2013’s total. Not bad in a vacuum, but relatively weak when stacked …
Read More »Kickstarter reveals 2014 totals, nearly 2,000 games funded
Kickstarter has released its annual report for 2014, showing that nearly 2,000 games were successfully funded during the period. According to the report, 2014 Kickstarter projects raised a total of $529m – beating out the $480m pledged in 2013 by considerable length. Music – Kickstarter’s most successfully funded category – …
Read More »New Steam beta update adds framerate counter
Valve has added an FPS counter to Steam’s overlay, allowing users to check the framerate of their games without having to use third-party software such as FRAPS. Polygon reports the counter is accessible right away as part of the current Steam client beta, much to the rejoicing of account holders …
Read More »PS4 sales surpass 18.5m units worldwide
PlayStation 4 has sold more than 18.5m consoles worldwide, Sony has announced. The firm adds that 4.1m of that total were sold during the 2014 holiday shopping season, which ran from November 23rd to January 4th. Sony also revealed that 81.8m PS4 games had been sold since the system’s November …
Read More »Updated: Square Enix MMO trio fail to muster 1m subscribers
Square Enix’s latest financial report reveals the publisher has yet to reach a total of 1m paying subscribers across Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Dragon Quest X. The company indicates in its report (via Polygon) that the size of the respective MMO communities aren’t a …
Read More »Steam surpasses 8.5m concurrent users
Concurrent users on Steam topped 8.5m earlier today, setting yet another record for the digital distributor. It was reported just last week that Steam had hit 8,357,541 concurrent users, which at the time was the most Valve’s service had ever experienced. Today however, the Steam stats page shows concurrent users …
Read More »Steam top ten sellers chart: December 28 – January 3
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is on top of Steam’s best sellers chart for the second week running, finishing ahead of Arma 3 during the concluding week of the store’s end of year sale. As with the past two weeks, the list is littered with titles on feature from Steam’s aforementioned holiday …
Read More »Planetside 2 PS4 beta misses 2014 target window, now scheduled for this month
Sony Online Entertainment has announced the Planetside 2 beta is now expected out by the middle of this month on PlayStation 4, confirming the early release will miss its previously scheduled 2014 target window. GameSpot reports on the delay and newly-specified release target of mid-January 2015 for Planetside 2’s PS4 …
Read More »Xbox Live founder announces departure from Microsoft
Xbox Live manager and XNA framework developer Boyd Multerer has announced his exit from Microsoft. Gamasutra reports on Multerer’s departure, which comes following 20 years of work with the company. He initially started as a contractor with Microsoft and was later brought on as a full-time software developer. The industry …
Read More »Steam posts new concurrent user record to close out 2014
Steam users came out in droves during the holiday break, with Valve’s digital distribution service scoring a new record in total concurrent users over the past weekend. Blue’s News reports Steam’s game and player stats page showed users peaking out at 8,357,541 on Sunday, December 28th at one point. DOTA …
Read More »