MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
If you haven’t been paying attention to the PC gaming market over the past few years, you may not have noticed that competitive video gaming has gone from a barely-understood niche industry to a sector that’s already competing with regular professional sports. Case in point: theLeague of Legendsworld finals match …
Read More »Do mobile devices have a future with enthusiast gamers?
Tablets and smartphones may be played by millions of casual gamers, but up until now mobile devices haven’t really been seen as systems for enthusiast gamers. One app game, Vainglory, is changing that. It’s carved out its own competitive gaming scene, and earlier this month held its own championships at …
Read More »The Loneliness of the Professional Gamer
If you haven’t heard of Jonathan Sutak, producer and director ofThe Foreigner, a new documentary about professionalStarCraft II(2010), you can take solace in knowing that you’ve probably seen some of his work. Not, mind you, the two independent dramas—UpThe River(2015), a romance, andDon’t Worry Baby(2015), a comedy—he’s produced; you haven’t …
Read More »Esports is getting its own hall of fame
ESLis adding another parallel between traditional sports andesports: an esports hall of fame. The esports hall of fame, launched as a semi-autonomous entity from ESL itself, will be operated much like traditional sports halls. A panel of writers, commentators, coaches, analysts and other experts will vote on entrants to the …
Read More »Riot Games and Australian Hoyts team up for cinema viewing parties
Hoyts Cinemas have joined as an official sponsor of the Oceanic Pro League in Oceania and will act as the official viewing party partner for all major League of Legends esports events during 2016. Damian Keogh, HOYTS Group CEO said, HOYTS are excited to partner with League of Legends esports …
Read More »The rise and fall of StarCraft II as an eSport
When the history books of esports are written, they will refer with reverence to the Roman Empire of gaming that was StarCraft. Released in 1998, the original StarCraft developed an unprecedented following in South Korea, where, for over a decade, complex leagues with ever-burgeoning prize pools increased the game’s profile …
Read More »Blizzard investigating allegations of win-trading in China’s Hearthstone scene
Blizzard is investigating accusations of large-scale cheating in China’sHearthstonecommunity, both on the in-game ladder and in offline tournaments. The allegations, brought to light by senior members of the ChineseHearthstonecommunity and published last week byGosuGamers, claimed that over a dozen top Chinese players were involved, including TongFu’s "FengFengFeng" and five members …
Read More »Why Monte, DoA and PapaSmithy don’t need Riot
Earlier today it was announced by Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles, Erik "DoA" Lonnquist and Christopher "PapaSmithy" Smith that they would not be attending the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational due to a failure to come to an agreement on contract terms. The three casters currently work for Ongamenet in South Korea, where each …
Read More »Introducing… The MCV and Develop podcast
MCV and Develop have launched a brand new games industry podcast, and the first episode is now available (Update: and now on iTunes). For this inaugural outing, our own editor Christopher Dring and Develop editor James Batchelor are joined in San Francisco by Dr. Dave Ranyard, virtual reality expert and …
Read More »Julia Hardy and Jason Bradbury to host eSports Awards
Radio 1’s Julia Hardy and Gadget Show’s Jason Bradbury will be co-hosting the eSports Awards this November. Bradbury is a prolific TV presenter that has also hosted the launch of products from the likes of F1, Toyota, Microsoft and Samsung. Hardy is a popular games journalist and presenter, who has …
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