U expands its vidgame biz
New dev't studio targets older vidgamers
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Black Label Games debuts with three titles initially developed by sister studio Universal Interactive. Torrie Dorrell, previously U Interactive's VP of marketing, will be general manager, reporting to U Interactive's prexy Jim Wilson, who will oversee the new studio in addition to his existing duties.
"We need to cover the entire market," said Wilson. "This really allows us to continue our growth in a bull market (for the vidgame business)."
"Black Label Games will target the rapidly growing audience for 'Teen' to 'Mature'-rated games," said Viv U Games Chief Exec Ken Cron. "Through Black Label, we will focus on delivering innovative, high-quality titles to satisfy the growing consumer appetite for increasingly sophisticated content."
'Biz as usual'
Wilson said the company is moving ahead despite reports that new Viv U chief exec Jean Rene Fourtou wants to sell off the company's vidgame operations because he considers them "non-core." Viv U, buried under a mound of debt, might realize as much as $2 billion by selling its games division, which also includes Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Online and Euro-centered NDA Productions. As with other major portions of Viv U's entertainment portfolio, however, there are relatively few potential buyers with the funds, or stock price, to swallow that big an operation.
"We're proceeding as if it's business as usual," Wilson said. The company has been planning the new label for several months, and expects to spend relatively little on additional staff or new capital outlays because it will be able to share many back-office operations with its sister Viv U studios.
'Thing' spinoff
Black Label's first two titles are coming out this month: "Enclave," a third-person action and role-playing game, and "The Thing," a survival horror game that takes up where the Universal Studios' film by John Carpenter ends. Those will be followed this fall by "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring," which is based on the J.R.R. Tolkein book. (Electronic Arts is publishing its own "Rings" games based on the New Line movies adapted from the books.)
Wilson said the titles are emblematic of the new studio's focus. Where Universal Interactive made its name with huge-selling console titles targeting family audiences (Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot), Black Label will create games targeting teens and adult gamers seeking more complicated and complex, often more violent, vidgames. The studio will create games for PCs and for all the current vidgame console and handheld machines.
The unit plans several announcements in coming weeks about new original titles, but also will court licensing and partnership deals with movie studios other than Universal, something that has proven more difficult for Universal Interactive because of its name, Wilson said.
