MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Today is the last day of news coverage at MCV for the year, and our last newsletter of the year.
We’ve reached the end of 2018. It was a stellar year for the industry as a whole, Fortnite dominated the headlines, Call of Duty proved that an old dog really can learn (some impressive) new tricks, while Red Dead Redemption 2 transported us to a place where Brexit didn’t exist…
It’s hard to look forward to 2019 without discussing Brexit but to say it’s been debated ad nauseam is like claiming norovirus at Christmas is just mildly annoying, so no more of that here.
2019 isn’t just Brexit though: we’re intrigued to see how the Epic Games Store shakes up of the PC retail space, then there’s Sony’s PS5 announcement on the cards too, plus we’re eager to see more of Cyberpunk 2077 and many others. And we expect a record year for the industry too, after huge hardware unit sales rounded off 2018. So it’s not all going to be doom-and-gloom.
And hey, worse comes to worse, we’re an industry that sells escapism better than practically anyone.
2018 was an interesting year for MCV itself. As we hit our 20th anniversary, Future came calling and looked to be the brand’s future. As it turned out, our paths are now diverging, but it feels like the right move for both parties. Personally, I went to check out our probable new office space last night, and it happens to be right next to one of my favourite pubs, so I’m taking that as a good omen.
Despite the inevitable disruption of changing hands, I’m super proud of what the team delivered in 2018: in print, online and in terms of events.
There was a lot I enjoyed this year but the standout memory has to be the Develop Awards 2018. Where we had to carefully integrate an England World Cup semi-final into the big night, while respecting the importance and sense of occasion of both. Thanks to all involved, except for Croatia.
We’d also like to say a big thanks to all our partners and sponsors across the year, we couldn’t do it without you and we look forward to working with you again next year. A huge thanks here to Sophia Freeman, our departing Sales Manager, we’ll be confirming her replacement very shortly.
And next year is set to be bigger and better still. With new studio-led sections in the magazine, an expanded recruitment section, broader distribution across key European events, a refocused subscriber base that better reflects today’s industry, plus some key new partnerships, and much more besides, it’s going to be a great 2019 for the brand. Contact me if you want to get involved at seth.barton@futurenet.com.
Enjoy your holidays, you’ve more than earned it.
The MCV newsletter and news coverage will return on the 3rd of January.
