MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Consumers are spending money – just not on video games. According to the Leisure Industries Research Centre in Sheffield, people spent 227.5bn on leisure activities in 2012. A rise of 3.7 per cent over 2011. The biggest risers were for holidays and tourism, which rose 4.1 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, …
Read More »Tomb Raider still tops charts despite three-way challenge
Square Enix has retained the top spot in the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 listings despite a 72 per cent week-on-week dip in sales for adventure outing Tomb Raider. In doing so it successfully fended off the advances of three new releases – God of War: Ascension, Starcraft …
Read More »High Street SOS: Asda, GAME and indies plot games retail rescue
Major retailers have pledged to fill the gap left by Blockbuster and HMV. UK publishers told MCV that they’re concerned by the lack of games retailers on the High Street. But we can reveal that chains and indies will open new outlets to plug the hole on the High Street. …
Read More »Dev slams focus on game length: "Who cares about value for money?"
Would you rather play an amazing game for one hour or a tedious one for 50? That’s basically the question being asked by Swedish filmmaker Josef Fares, who has teamed up with Syndicate and Chronicles of Riddick creators Starbreeze Studios to make new digital game Brothers: A Tale of Two …
Read More »Sequels in decline – why the industry needs new IP
We’re now ten weeks into 2013 and so far it’s been a dreary start to the year. Plenty of new releases have topped the charts, but they haven’t performed well enough to stop total sales declining by more than 20 per cent year-on-year. Obviously retailers still have long-tail sellers like …
Read More »Senior video games execs call for a more gay-friendly industry
Games representatives and social activists have called for an attitude of acceptance towards LGBT issues in the industry at an event in New York. As reported byGamasutra, senior staff from EA, Kixeye, the ESA and US politicians discussed the issues facing members of the LGBT community when it comes to …
Read More »February sales plunge as blockbusters fail to shine
UK games execs were left scratching their heads last month after a string of big budget action games failed to lift games retail out of the gloom. Last month UK games stores sold 1,854,954 games, a drop of 19.9% over February 2012. And that’s despite big name releases including Dead …
Read More »Scouts introduce video games design badge
The Boy Scouts of America has a new merit badge that will teach youngsters about games design. The Game Design merit badge offers kids the chance to practice the craft through a variety of mediums, including electronic, outdoor/athletic, tabletop, pen and Paper, or role-playing games. According toScouting Magazine, those seeking …
Read More »Tracking modern media audiences
It’s no good shouting at an empty room. Publishers need to know where their audience is and how to reach them, and as the demographic of gamers broadens, this is becoming much more challenging. Rewind five, ten years and magazines held more sway over the gaming masses. Each edition was …
Read More »Journey wins five awards at game BAFTAs
Thatgamecompany’s PSN release Journey was the big winner at the British Academy Games Awards last night, winning five of the eight awards it was nominated for. The game collected gongs for Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Game Design, Online Multiplayer and Original Music. Fellow PSN release The Unfinished Swan also collected …
Read More »