Legal Niches

UTV: From Film to Games

By james_fudge

An Indian firm known for creating movies is making a big movie into the videogame industry. Ronnie Screwvala, chairman of media & entertainment company, UTV Group, says that his firm has invested £75m (5.5bn rupees) in three game titles. The first - an action game called El Shaddai, was inspired by the Book of Enoch and is due for release later this year.

The company sees this move as "the next logical step" for its business, but analysts - including Piers Harding-Rolls from Screen Digest - sees the move into these markets as "tough" for a company trying to launch new brands.

The company is probably in a better position than most, though; two years ago it bought an Indian development studio specialising in mobile gaming, UK developer Ignition and launched a separate development studio in Gainesville, Florida. All told, the company has three console titles currently in development and is looking to secure a publishing deal before the games are released.

Source: BBC

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on August 05, 2010 (boomark / email).