Broken Sword and Grand Theft Auto lead Yorkshire's App Store invasion
mardi, 2 février 2010
Yorkshire games companies have continued their success on the iPhone in 2010 with Broken Sword: Director's Cut and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars becoming huge chart smashes, proving that the region is home to some of the most competitive games developers in the world.
Broken Sword: Director's Cut from Revolution Software based in York launched on 25th January, storming into the top 20 with glowing five-star reviews across the board. Screen Yorkshire, which invested in the game, will host a one-off event with Revolution Software in London this week to celebrate the game’s success. The key figures behind one of the most influential adventure games of all time, including Managing Director of Revolution Software, Charles Cecil and cult comic book artist and co-creator of Watchmen, Dave Gibbons, will come together to reveal the secrets behind the development of the Broken Sword series to fans at Apple’s flagship store on Regent Street on 4th February.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, developed by Rockstar Leeds, has been a massive worldwide hit since its release on January 18th, gaining overwhelming critical acclaim and quickly becoming one of the highest grossing iPhone games ever to hit the App Store.
These two high-profile releases from Yorkshire & Humber follow on from a phenomenal 2009 for the region's iPhone developers, with Ossett-based Team 17's Worms game becoming the third best-selling games app of the year and seventh overall best selling app.
"The success of ‘Broken Sword’ and ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is again showing how Yorkshire & Humber developers lead the world in cutting-edge iPhone game design," says Game Republic sector manager at Screen Yorkshire, Jamie Sefton. "Now, with the announcement of the iPad, 2010 is already shaping up to be a stellar year for our region's games companies on Apple's devices."
Other recent App store release highlights from the region include the world's number one trivia app QuizQuizQuiz from Bradford's Four Door Lemon, the highly-rated Manage Your Football Club from Huddersfield's Sports Director Ltd and the fantastic family music game Doo Wop created by a unique collaboration between Leeds companies Organiq Music and Gamerholix.
With the recent announcement of Apple's iPad tablet device, many Yorkshire companies will also be making special iPad-enhanced versions of their games, with further exciting iPhone games announcements to come during 2010.
Screen Yorkshire media enquiries
Rachel McWatt, Marketing & Communications Officer
Screen Yorkshire
t. +44 (0) 113 236 8224
e. rachel@screenyorkshire.co.uk
Screen Yorkshire is the regional screen agency responsible for inspiring, promoting and supporting a successful and sustainable film, television, games and interactive media sector in Yorkshire and Humber. Our aim is to grow the screen media industries in Yorkshire and Humber by helping businesses to compete in a fast-changing global marketplace. Screen Yorkshire offers a variety of funding and support initiatives to screen media companies based in the region, supported by its two key partners, Yorkshire Forward and the UK Film Council. Since the launch of its £10.2m Digital Media Content Programme in 2006, Screen Yorkshire has attracted over £62 million inward investment to the region’s economy, created 824 jobs, supported 805 businesses and invested in the skills of 1457 individuals. For further information, visit: www.screenyorkshire.co.uk
Game Republic, the trade association for the games sector in Yorkshire and Humber, promotes and provides support to the industry through a range of initiatives, investing in games projects, creating better links with academia, developing relationships with international publishers and championing collaboration through hosting regular networking events. In 2007 Game Republic was fully integrated into Screen Yorkshire enabling the games sector in the region to access its strategic investment funds. www.gamerepublic.org