CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corporation and pioneer of the "free-to-play, pay-for-merchandise" model for online games in China, today announced plans for its accelerated expansion into the development of online games through the establishment of a subsidiary to be named CDC Games Studio.
CDC Games Studio expands the scope of the Online Games Developer Partner Program announced in August of 2006. The original partner program was funded by up to $20 million and focused on investments in strategic games development partners to accelerate the development of new and original online games for the China market. CDC Games Studio will continue to place strategic investments with selected game developers and also support emerging game developers with the resources they need to rapidly develop innovative new games. The geographic scope of CDC Games Studio will also expand beyond China to include the development of games for additional targeted geographies. The original $20 million investment ear-marked for the partner program will be increased to a total of up to $100 million to support the broader scope of CDC Games Studio.
"We've established CDC Games as a leading publisher of online games in China and our goal is to leverage that foundation to become a leading, global developer of online games," said Xiaowei Chen, Ph.D., CEO of CDC Games. "Establishing CDC Games Studio is an important, foundational piece of this strategy as we grow beyond games distribution, into development. By expanding our Games Developer Program into CDC Games Studio, we'll position CDC Games as a leader in distribution and development of world class online games in China, as well as for global export.
CDC Games Studio seeks to attract talented games development companies around the world, including those in Korea, the United States, Europe and China, which may already have operations in China or are seeking to relocate or expand into China to take advantage of the broad market demand for new games, abundance of available talent in China for games development, and local tax incentives available to companies developing games for domestic distribution as well as for export. Resources which CDC Games Studio could offer such companies include: office space, development and technology resources such as site licenses with game related technology companies, partnerships with hardware and platform partners, as well as direct capital support. The expanded investment in CDC Games Studio will be used to fund the creation of new online games, as well as the acquisition of rights to develop world-class games titles in China, with the goal of publishing and distributing them on a global scale. Targeted areas of interest include educational games, games based on historical events, games based on scientific and problem-solving scenarios, as well as games based on popular entertainment and comic titles.
The original Games Developer Program included the participation of Gorilla Banana, a leading games developer in Korea. The launch of CDC Games Studio includes an additional development partner, Possibility Space, a developer of free-to-play online games founded by industry game veterans Gage Galinger and Feng Zhu. Gage is a games programmer who has been credited on Blizzard's Starcraft and Ensemble Studio's Age of Mythology, and Feng Zhu, a well-known creative art director for both the game and Hollywood feature film industry, including positions at Lucas Films, Electronic Arts and Liquid Entertainment. Zhu also was lead art director for the movie, Star Wars: Episode III. CDC Games Studio also is in final stages of negotiations to invest in other world class games development companies.
"We are very happy to be among the leading developers selected for the CDC Games Studio," said Gage Galinger, CEO of Possibility Space. We have a distinct vision for our games and for how online game play will evolve. With the support of the CDC Games Studio, we are able to accelerate our development and ensure delivery of high quality games ready for the demands of broad scale distribution. This is a great opportunity for us and we look forward to a productive venture with CDC Games."
"The online games development industry in China is still in its early stages, with many emerging start-ups," said John Lee, president of CDC Games. "Through CDC Games Studio, we have an excellent opportunity to establish CDC Games as the partner of choice for global companies seeking investment to accelerate development or seeking to set up their in-house development operations in China."
Lee added, "Through the breadth of the CDC family of companies, we have a competitive advantage in leveraging the creative talent in CDC Games, our established government relationships, a global network of partners, and the enterprise software development expertise of our sister company, CDC Software. In fact, many of CDC Software's proven methodologies, tools and other resources are directly applicable in the development of games platforms and infrastructures As a result, much like we pioneered the 'free-to-play, pay-for-merchandise' distribution model in China, we intend to pioneer a new era in China games development through CDC Games Studio."
CDC Games is in the final stages of negotiation with additional games developers and expects to announce their participation shortly in the CDC Games Studio - CDC.
Posted March 13th, 2007 by Nymphadora
