MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Paris Hilton will be starring in a new mobile video game. Hong Kong-based development firm Animoca Brands has announced that it has signed a deal with Paris Hilton to licence her name and likeness. "Paris Hilton is one of the world’s most recognised names and we are thrilled to be …
Read More »Agent Alice breaks Wooga download record
Smartphone game maker Wooga has reached new heights with its most recent release Agent Alice. Games Industry reports that the hidden object title has been downloaded 3m times in just four days and is currently tracking at 800k sales per day. That beats the numbers of its previous best performer, …
Read More »Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires free-to-play edition in the works
Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires will receive a stripped-back free-to-play version alongside its full retail release, Tecmo Koei has revealed. The company has announced that Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires Free Alliances Version will launch next month through the PlayStation Network. The free-to-play take on the game allows players to use Edit …
Read More »The World Ends With You on iOS removed from App Store
Square Enix have been forced to pull The World Ends With You: Solo Remix from the Apple App Store due to the game’s broken state on iOS 8. Kotaku reports that the title’s mobile edition hasn’t worked for months since the release of the latest major iOS update, prompting Square …
Read More »Sega boosts mobile division with Demiurge Studios acquisition
Publisher also invests in Space Ape Games and Ignited Artists
Read More »Latest iDevices face fresh hacking threat as Lightening Connector hack opens door
Apple faces a fresh security threat with reports that the jailbreaking community has made a breakthrough in accessing newer iOS devices. The Register reports that an exploit concerning the Lightening connector found in modern Apple units has for the first time opened access to Apple’s serial kernel debugger. This was …
Read More »Analyst says Zynga needs to ditch boss Don Mattrick
Don Mattrick needs to go – that’s according to BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield. Polygon reports that Greenfield has published a paper called "Zynga Needs A New Leader – Time for Don Mattrick To Go", criticising the exec for the company’s purchase of Clumsy Ninja developer Natural Motion for $527m and …
Read More »Top 100 Women in Games: Catharina Lavers Mallet
Lavers Mallet joined the games industry after graduating business school at MIT Sloan. With previous work in enterprise software for the financial industry and strategy consulting, she had always had a side interest in theater production and working with creative teams generally. Driven by this interest, Lavers Mallet then joined …
Read More »Revenues down as Zynga posts annual loss
Zynga’s troubles to adapt to a mobile-led market continue, with its 2014 fiscal results showing a net loss of $226m. Of this, $129m was attributed to stock-based expenses, $7m to income tax benefit and $24m to the expense of its ongoing restructuring. Revenues came in at $690m for the year …
Read More »Video game toy sales slump as Moshi Monsters falters
Sales of toys based on video games fell 14 per cent in 2014, NPD has told MCV. The decline is almost entirely down to a drop in popularity of Moshi Monsters products. NPD tells MCV that if Moshi Monsters was discounted from all of its numbers (now and historically), then …
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