MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
One of the two fraud charges levelled at Activision by former employees and Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vincent Zampella has been dismissed by a US court. The remarkable story of the corporate fallout between Activision and the development pair began in March 2010 when it was revealed that …
Read More »Activision: Prototype 2 ‘owns’ April
Superhero action game Prototype 2 will prosper thanks to a quiet April,says Activision subsidiary Radical Entertainment. The title is probably the biggest name in a sparse month for retail. Developer Radical hopes it can sell over 4m units – double the original’s sales. We sold 2.1m copies of the first …
Read More »Skylanders licensing business takes off
Would-be licensees are lining up to get a piece of Skylanders, says Activision. 150 licensing execs attended a special Activision event on Tuesday (February 28th) to find out how they can get the rights to make Skylanders cuddly toys, lunch boxes, clothes, back packs and a whole lot more. It …
Read More »Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 release date leaked?
French retailer Fnac has published an ad on its website claiming that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be released on November 12th 2012. The ad has long since vanished, but not before it was snapped by Gamepur. The November 12th date could, of course, be nothing other than …
Read More »Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection #1 hits Xbox Live this month
Activision has revealed Xbox Live release dates for the first of four Modern Warfare 3 content collections, with Call of Duty Elite premium status members scoring a chunk of the DLC a week early. Content Collection #1 brings the Liberation, Piazza, Overwatch and Black Box maps for multiplayer, along with …
Read More »600 jobs lost at Blizzard
World of Warcraft house Blizzard Entertainment is to begin a global downsizing operation that will result in 600 job losses. The company claims that about sixty of these redundancies will come directly from game development, while the majority of redundancies affecting other areas of the business. Existing development and publishing …
Read More »Rare Skylanders figures sell for £827 on eBay
Activision’s toy-based console title Skylanders has demonstrated its incredibly loyal fan following after an auction for some rare figures reached 797 on eBay. The UK listing offered six rare gold and silver figures, which can then be used in-game via Activision’s Portal of Power. A total of 35 bids were …
Read More »Call of Duty scheduled for autumn Vita release
A PlayStation Vita version of Activision’s blockbuster war franchise Call of Duty will be released this autumn. The admission comes from SCEA’s senior VP of PlayStation brand marketing Guy Longworth, who told GameTrailers: "In the Autumn, [my kids] are really looking forward toCall of Dutyon Vita, and that’s going to …
Read More »Bobby Kotick joins Coca-Cola Board
The Coca-Cola Company has appointed Activision CEO Bobby Kotick to its Board of Directors. As part of the move, the exec is placed on the company’s management development committee. The move follows higher than expected results for Activision in its latest financial report. "Bobby brings an entrepreneurial mindset and a …
Read More »Hasbro backing Fall of Cybertron with new action figures
Activision and Hasbro have cleverly identified a great cross-market opportunity by announcing a range of toys to accompany upcoming release Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Eight action figures have been announced so far, the most notable of which is undoubtedly the huge combiner Bruticus figure, which is comprised of five Combaticons. …
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