MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Huge sales of FIFA 12 and Battlefield 3 saw EA dominate the boxed games market in the UK last month, according to GfK?Chart-Track. The football sim topped the charts, while Battlefield 3 had to settle for second place. Battlefield’s achievement is notable as the game was only on sale for …
Read More »UK CHARTS: MW3 is No.1; Biggest UK week ever; Falls short of Black Ops
Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has assumed its pre-determined position at the top of the UKIE GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40. It helped the UK games sector to its biggest weekly return ever, making 120.8m, beating previous record holder Week 45 in 2010. MW3 revenue for the …
Read More »Games piracy up 20% in five years
The rate of games piracy is on the rise, according to new data. Research firm Envisional says that illicit game downloads in the UK climbed 20 per cent over the last five years. It claims that that the five top games of 2010” were illegally accessed online almost one million …
Read More »The GamesAid Darts Night returns
UK games industry charity GamesAid has announced a date and venue for its next Darts Night. It will take place on November 23rd at The Horseshoe pub, 24 Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1R 0AG. MPG Universal have signed up as the event’s sponsor. The competition will take place in pairs, and …
Read More »Digital chart and PEGI plan set for early 2012
UKIE has confirmed that plans are still on course for PEGI, which is currently awaiting final EU sign offs before UK Government grants the on-pack marks as the only ratings standard for video games. Once the ratings are made legal, said EA’s Keith Ramsdale, head of UKIE’s health, wellbeing and …
Read More »The father of video games thinks modern gaming is "a disgrace"
The man who is credited with fathering the modern video games industry has delivered a damning verdict of the modern games market. Ralph Baer, who in the ‘60s designed the prototypes for went on to become the world’s first console, the Magnavox Odyssey, is displeased with the violent nature of …
Read More »Second-user charges are ‘less than ideal’
The schemes have their critics, but Codemasters says publishers had no choice but to introduce Online Passes. The tactic has seen software houses include one-time codes in new copies of their titles to unlock content. Pre-owned users must buy the code online to access the same content. Online Passes have …
Read More »Ratcliffe reboots GaBoom
Online games swap shop GaBoom has been relaunched. The portal is the brainchild of Jessica Ratcliffe, star of this year’s 30 Under 30 and former contestant on the BBC’s Dragon Den, where she tried to secure investment in the venture. As well as a new url, the site has streamlined …
Read More »Ubisoft details digital vision
French publisher Ubisoft clearly sees 2012 as being a huge year for digital games sales, unveiling a huge number of new digital games at a US trade event yesterday. Several Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network titles were announced which the firm hopes will build on the success of 2011 …
Read More »EA: Digital success helps grow boxed sales
Publisher EA has countered the belief that digital will eventually cannibalise the packaged games market. The evidence, EA’s boss claims, comes from its FIFA series. FIFA has been a cornerstone of the console market for nearly 20 years but has in recent times expanded onto new platform such as iOS …
Read More »