Player X has announced that they’ve teamed up with Amobee to offer ad-funded versions of some of the former’s games.
The games use Amobee’s Handset Application Programming Interface (HAPI), which is a small development kit that allows them to become “Amobee-ready” and available to take ads. Gamers will be able to opt-in to the ad-funded versions, receiving a discount on the purchase price for receiving ads during launch, exit, and idle time.
“Ad-funded content models have the potential to transform the mobile content business, giving the end user more for less while generating an additional revenue stream,” said Player X CEO Tony Pearce. “We see this model and our partnership with Amobee as a crucial step toward building the development expertise and look forward to working with them.”
The first ad-funded titles to launch will be Sale of the Century, Strike it Lucky, Sensible Soccer Skillz, Space Invaders, Family Fortunes, and ToCA Race Driver 3.
AdME has announced that their game GuitarStar will be getting worldwide release courtesy of publisher Player X.
Originally released only on the AT&T Wireless network, GuitarStar is a new beat matching game which promotes up-and-coming new artists.
“Player X is extremely excited about partnering with AdME to bring this versatile new entertainment vehicle to a worldwide audience,” said Tony Pearce, Player X CEO.
There’s no word yet on when exactly the game will be available.
Player X has announced that they will be the official aggregator for UK operator O2.
Under the deal, Player X will work with over 20 publishers to take their games through QA, deployment, and porting to publish them on O2’s mobile games portal.
“We searched high and low for a company that could mix commercial savvy with operational delivery of QA, porting and deployment,” said Antony Douglas, Head of Games at O2 UK. “Thanks to a long-standing relationship with Player X, we had such a company on our doorstep and we’re confident this relationship will mean our mobile games partners’ content will reach our customers in the fastest possible time.”
Tony Pearce, Player X CEO, said the company was “delighted with the development.”
Player X has announced a new game called Hollywood Hospital, which they intend to branch off into a series of games, reports MobileIndustry.biz.
The game is a mix of the tycoon and lifestyle genres. It features a host of crazy illnesses and weird machines inspired by classic Hollywood movies. The staff are constantly falling in love with the patients, who in turn are trying to duck the paparazzi. It’s currently in development by 8Bit Games.
“This is a major new publishing franchise from Player X,” said company CEO Tony Pearce. “We’re delighted to have come up with something as original as Hollywood Hospital and are looking forward to mobile gamers getting the bug for it as much as the patients in the game.”
Hollywood Hospital will launch globally in the fourth quarter of this year. Another game in the franchise, Hollywood Hotel, is currently in pre-production.
Player X has announced they have moved to a new facility in Soho and added Chris Hanage to their executive team.
Chris Hanage joins Player X from Infospace, where he was head of mobile game sales for the EMEA region. At Player X he’ll be taking on the role of European sales director.
The new facility is located on Soho’s Frith Street and will become the company’s new headquarters. Player X CEO Tony Pearce stated that they had outgrown their old offices.
This news follows the announcement that Player X had opened an office in India and had plans to expand to Australia as well.
Player X has announced the opening of a brand new office in Pune, India, one of the country’s most high-tech cities.
The movie is part of the company’s plan to expand aggressively into content aggregation. “This is a natural progression for Player X enabling us to offer our partners a complete distribution ecosystem and a wide variety of tailored services to meet their requirements,” said Tony Pearce, Player X CEO. “We’re looking to scale the office significantly over the next 12 months.â€
Player X is already an official aggregator for a number of carrier and content partners. The company plans to open an office in Australia as well.
Player X has signed a deal with Terraplay for a series of game competitions.
Player X will add functionality for Terraplay’s Global Gaming Network to ten games. The first game to launch will be Carol Vorderman Mind Aerobics followed by the puzzler Mind Games. Each game will have an integrated competition mode that will run on a weekly basis, with the scores uploaded to the Terraplay servers and published in realtime on web and WAP sites as well as in the game.
“We see great potential in connecting our gamers to create interactivity and community around the gaming experience, and the Terraplay Global Gaming Network was the perfect solution to support our large scale rollout”, said Player X CEO Tony Pearce.
Player X has announced that they will be releasing Lyric EMI in partnership with Hollywood Gaming and EMI Music Publishing.
The game is similar to hangman style game, except using music and lyrics from EMI’s extensive catalog with includes artists such as Queen, String, the Rolling Stones, and Scissor Sisters.
“We’re delighted to be working with EMI Music Publishing at the start of their new franchise launch. The mobile game taps into EMI’s rich catalogue and the simple gameplay will have broad appeal similar to the success of our TV Gameshows such as Family Fortunes and Bullseye”, said Tony Pearce, Player X CEO.
The company plans to release a number of Lyric EMI-related games throughout the year.
MobileIndustry.biz has followed up on their interview with Tony Pearce of Player X in which he states that bad ports of popular PC and console games could possibly damage the franchises that they’re spun off from. In this second article, MobileIndustry.biz talks to THQ Wireless’s marketing director, James Scalpello, who argues that Pearce isn’t seeing the big picture, as he explains… Continue reading ‘Do bad console ports hurt the originals?’
Mobileindustry.biz will be publishing an interview with Player X’s CEO Tony Pearce next week. Pearce makes some big claims such as the fact that his company is now one of the UK’s top mobile gaming publishers - and is outselling its rivals.
Continue reading ‘Interview With Player X Preview’