MCV/Develop

• 1. Introduction

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  MCV/Develop is a British trade magazine written for people who earn their living from video games, not for people who play them. Its subject is the business side of the industry. It reaches readers in print and digitally. The title has carried several names over the years, including MCV and Market for Computer & Video Games, before settling on its current form. Who started it, and what did they carry over from an earlier publication? How did it end up passing between owners, and what happened to the sister magazines it took in? And what is the awards show that bears its name?

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• 2. Born From a Weekly

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  Computer Trade Weekly, known as CTW, first appeared in September 1984 and came out every week. By 1998 it was the official newspaper for ELSPA, the European Leisure Software Publishers Association. It also created and sponsored ECTS, the European Computer Trade Show. In September 1998, several former CTW employees started a new magazine called MCV. Stuart Dinsey was its editor and Lisa Carter, then named Lisa Foster, was deputy editor. Alex Moreham, then named Alex Jarvis, ran sales, and Dave Roberts completed the founding group. Dinsey sold the magazine in 2012 and left in 2013. He is now chairman of Curve Digital and a board director of Ukie. With the founders gone, the title was left to a succession of corporate owners.

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• 3. Passing Between Owners

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  In November 2017, NewBay Media owned MCV and announced a consolidation. The websites, magazines and events of its sister titles Develop and Esports Pro would be folded into MCV by early 2018. The combined magazine would move to a monthly schedule. In April 2018, Future Publishing acquired NewBay Media. By December 2018, Future had decided to sell several of its business-to-business brands, MCV among them, to Datateam Media Group. The deal was completed in January 2019. Datateam created a new subsidiary called Biz Media to act as parent for the brands it had bought from Future. In October 2019, the magazine was renamed MCV/Develop. The new name revived the Develop brand, which had closed in 2018.

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• 4. The Editor's Chair

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  Seth Barton became editor in 2016 and held the job for five years. In 2021 he left to join PlayStation, moving from reporting on the games business to working inside it. Richie Shoemaker replaced him on the 1st of November 2021. The title's reach extends past the printed page, to an awards show with its own rules.

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• 5. The Awards

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  The MCV/Develop Awards have been held since 2002 as an annual show. Entry is open to publishers, to retailers and to distributors. Winners are chosen by a peer vote, and an independent panel of specialists also judges the entries. That mix means the people honored are assessed partly by others working in the same trade.

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