Frontier to give Wallace & Gromit their gaming debut on that ultimate ‘cracking contraption’ – the mobile phone!
Frontier acquires the rights to bring the Oscar®-winning claymation duo to mobile games
CAMBRIDGE, UK - 16th June 2005. Frontier Developments Ltd. ('Frontier'), the leading independent games developer, announced today that it has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to publish mobile games based on Aardman Animations Ltd.'s ('Aardman') much-loved, Oscar®-winning, claymation duo Wallace & Gromit.
Frontier Chairman and games industry legend David Braben said: "We're delighted that our strong on-going creative relationship with Aardman has been enhanced by this arrangement - Wallace and Gromit have huge appeal to a worldwide mainstream male and female audience across a wide age range, and are a perfect fit for the mobile games market."
Frontier had a successful start to self-publishing their mobile games when their own-IP game Darxide EMP was awarded 'Best Game on Pocket PC' by Microsoft in 2003 and was subsequently released for Nokia Series 60 Smartphones in 2004, being distributed by mobile operators worldwide and retailer EB Games in the US as well as directly from Frontier's web-site; www.frontier.co.uk.
"Mobile phone gaming is a large and growing segment of the games market and is an important element of our strategy for several reasons" said Frontier Managing Director David Walsh "Its vital that leading games companies such as Frontier rise to the strategic engineering and creative challenge of delivering for customers a coherent yet differentiated interaction with their favourite franchises across all gaming formats. On a creative level, mobiles offer fresh, exciting gameplay opportunities to stimulate and provide an outlet for a different set of game ideas than those used in our console and PC releases. And finally for Frontier as an intellectual property business the current economics of the mobile market allow us to grow a valuable publishing dimension to our operations."
Frontier plan to publish a series of mobile phone games based on Wallace and Gromit and their world, and will kick off with a release timed to coincide with the appearance of the forthcoming feature-length Wallace and Gromit film "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" in movie theatres worldwide.
Frontier recently announced the development of a console game based on "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit", which is Frontier's second collaboration with Aardman on a Wallace and Gromit videogame, following 2003's BAFTA-nominated "Project Zoo" console title.
Further information on Frontier including details of current vacancies and how to apply directly can be found on Frontier's web-site, www.frontier.co.uk.
All media enquiries please contact: Alison Beasley, Lincoln Beasley PR
T: 01608 645756 M: 07966 449130 E: Alison@lincolnbeasley.co.ukAbout Frontier
Frontier is based in Cambridge, UK and is one of the games industry's leading independent developers, having built upon the innovative creations of founder David Braben, co-author of the seminal 'Elite'. Frontier works with a number of top publishers and is currently developing for PlayStation2, GameCube, Xbox, PC, and mobile phones. Additionally, Frontier is developing leading-edge proprietary technology for the next generation of games consoles.
Frontier has a proven reputation for original game design and commercial success, and aims to revolutionise perceptions of what gaming is all about by using innovative technical and artistic approaches on all leading-edge gaming platforms. It received three BAFTA nominations and several awards for its recent console games "Dog's Life" and "Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo", and scored a Christmas 2004 No.1 position in the USA with its RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3 PC, which has also been the recipient of various awards and a prestigious Acadamy of Interactive Arts and Sciences nomination.
More information on Frontier can be found at www.frontier.co.uk
The Frontier logo is a trademark of Frontier Developments Ltd. Wallace and Gromit is a registered trademark of Aardman Animations Ltd. All other trademarks and Copyright are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
About Aardman
David Sproxton and Peter Lord co founded Aardman in the late seventies and have guided the studio to its present day position as a world leader in 3D animation. Their multi-award winning productions are novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterized and full of charm that reflects the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the very special people who make up the Aardman team. The studio's work is often imitated and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning and amusing independent and commercials productions. Aardman has been nominated for an Oscar® seven times, and has won three.
Aardman produces films and television series for the international market, their debut feature film, Chicken Run has grossed over $220M worldwide ($104M in the US) and their series of Wallace and Gromit short films have won countless awards including 2 Oscars®. The first Wallace and Gromit feature film is currently in production and is due to be released worldwide in October 2005.
Aardman also produce award winning television commercials for the world market.