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Relentless Software launches Digital Division, more titles coming soon
Relentless Software is the UK company behind Blue Toad Murder Files for the PSN and Quiz Climber for iOS, and it recently announced that it is opening up a new "Digital Division" to expand its various releases through digital distribution. The Digital Division is separate from the console department inside the company, and going forward, Executive Director Andrew Eades says that it will "steer" original IP from the company in both social and mobile spaces. Relentless has also hired a former EA producer named James Wright, and he says that opening the division will "bring more fun, accessible and ground-breaking titles across several platforms for non-gamers." Up next for Relentless, the company plans a version of Quiz Climber called Rivals, the console side of the company will continue to grow the Buzz! quiz game franchise for Sony, and Relentless says it has lots of other unannounced projects in progress at this time.
'Buzz' dev Relentless expands digital strategy as PlayStation exclusivity deal ends
Relentless Software, the UK-based creator of the Buzz! trivia games for PlayStation platforms, is now free from an exclusivity deal with Sony and looking to pursue a digital distribution strategy that would bring its games to a wide range of internet-connected devices. "That's my aim," co-founder Andrew Eades told GamesIndustry.biz, "to make games for anyone who has a TV." "The whole retail market is becoming very much about pillar titles for a hardcore audience," said Eades, citing Activision's perennial standout Call of Duty and its difficult to match, multimillion dollar budget as good reason to move away form the disc-based business, "so we have to find a new way to get to our audience, and that is digital, episodic, various different platforms, including PlayStation -- that remains our main platform." The platform-exclusivity deal with Sony ended on good terms last year, and Relentless will continue to look to PlayStation Network for long-term revenue in its new, fremium-based Buzz!: Quiz Player iteration, along with ongoing sales of its self-published episodic mystery game, Blue Toad Murder Files, which debuted on PSN in late 2009. (It was released for PC in November.) "The interesting thing we've found out with Blue Toad is that, almost a year after its first launch, we're still selling it in different ways," Eades explained. "We've had a sixty percent uplift in sales through the Advent Calendar Theme Bundle pack. You can't do this on disc." This realization appears to be the guiding light in the studio's new focus to expand its digital distribution efforts to more platforms. Relentless is at work on a new game for next year, to be followed by the launch of a new IP. "PlayStations and Xboxes have a place under many people's TVs, but there's also satellite boxes, Apple TVs, Google TVs, internet-connected TVs," Eades observed. "They all have more and more computational power, and that's all we need -- that processor power to deliver our games and the internet connection to distribute them -- and we're in the living room just as any broadcast TV is." [Image source: Relentless]
European PSN releases for December 22
Brace yourself for holiday avarice -- this week, the Eurpoean PSN plays host to dozens upon dozens of discounts on games for PS3 and PSP. There's some new stuff, too, including Risk: Factions and the free Buzz Quiz Player, but don't let your hunger for the new distract you from the cheapness of the old. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Freemium 'Buzz!: Quiz Player' comes to PSN today, with DualShock support
You know that one team at the pub quiz nights that just crushes it every week? Well, we'd like to see you get even, and today's announcement and (free) release of Buzz!: Quiz Player, previously outed by the ESRB, seems like a good start. Quiz Player features 90 sample questions in the free base app launching on PSN today, plus classic Buzz! staples like Point Builder, Fastest Finger, Point Stealer and Final Countdown. The game supports the traditional Buzz! controllers and DualShock 3s -- which is most welcome, since it allows everyone a chance at those those quiz night know-it-alls. Honestly, they have it coming. Vendettas aside, other question packs will be available through in-game purchase, covering such topics as Comedy, Rock Legends, Space and U.S. Sports, according to associate producer Jenny Barbour, who also confirmed Facebook integration. Though, the feature questionably involves publishing your game details online. You wouldn't want your Facebook friends to find out you had no idea which volcano leveled Pompeii in 74 AD, would you? Psst, it was "Mount Suvius."
