LONDON – June 15, 2011 – Idea Fabrik Plc. (GB00B61CVK31, TI4.F) today announced the first 100 game development studios have been admitted into HeroCloud in an Early-Access program for its new integrated platform for social and online game development.
‘Interest in the program has been overwhelming and demand has exceeded our early expectations, with hundreds of studios applying for access,’ said Neil Harris, President of US operations and COO of Idea Fabrik. ‘We selected a diverse group of developers ranging from 5 to 25 man teams. This way the early access program provides us with the widest range of feedback to better meet the needs of all types of developers.’ All 100 Studios were carefully screened for their game development experience. In the coming weeks more studios that have already applied will receive access to the HeroCloud platform.
HeroCloud was first launched in mid-2010 as a Software as a service (SaaS) for MMO RPG developers. At GDC in March 2011, Idea Fabrik announced the Idea System integrated service and development platform for social games. After feedback from developers, the new Idea System technologies merged into HeroCloud to create a single platform to allow studios to create games for both MMO market and Social networks.
According to Idea Fabrik product manager Cooper Buckingham, ‘Now HeroCloud comes with everything developers need to make a great online game into a great business. In addition to its strengths for MMO development, HeroCloud is particularly well suited for building social games because of its integration with Facebook and various billing options for virtual currency purchases.’
HeroCloud is free to use for developers. HeroCloud supports developers post-launch with hosting and bandwidth plus global billing and marketing. Once their games are published, developers pay for the HeroCloud service a percentage of revenues.
Said Idea Fabrik chairman and co-founder Alex Shalash, ‘Game creators receive complete access to Idea Fabrik’s 3D game engine with integrated server, Hero Engine – the same technology only major game studios had access to before thanks to the rapid development of Cloud technologies and our forward looking strategy to deliver Hero technologies as SaaS.’
Early feedback from admitted developers has been very positive.
‘We paid for and used over a dozen commercially available ‘indie’ game engines, and none met our list of needs. HeroCloud meets them all,’ said CrazyWeasel Game Studios President Michael Gough. ‘The system is extremely well documented. The collaborative nature of HeroCloud allows my team to work in discrete locations, at the same time. This is a huge benefit as we do not run into the pitfalls found on other game engines where game updates by developers can conflict.’
Synaptic Switch is building one of the first social games on the HeroCloud platform. Robert Madsen, the studio director, said the HeroCloud platform is ‘the first to provide a one-stop solution for indie developers who want to reach out into the social space. ‘Before [HeroCloud] our plans for developing a social game were fraught with uncertainties about network infrastructure and uncertain future costs. Now. we can just focus on making our game and making it great.’
‘We expect to see first games being published already this fall and are already hearing from developers that HeroCloud is helping them streamline their game development process,’ said VP of Engineering Herb Marselas. Idea Fabrik decided to launch the pre-release program in part due to the large number of requests from developers upon the announcement of Hero Cloud at GDC.
Access to HeroCloud will be available directly from the website through a download later this year. For more information about HeroCloud, visit the official site at heroengine.com. Developers that are interested in applying to the early-access program can find more information on the website.
About Idea Fabrik:
Idea Fabrik is an industry leading online games company. The company licenses its HeroEngine game development technology platform to dozens of studios worldwide for projects which include EA/Bioware’s upcoming MMO title, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Idea Fabrik also provides the HeroCloud managed service, offering independent developers low-cost access to the HeroEngine technology. For more information about Idea Fabrik, including details about the company’s online game development studios across the globe, visit the official website at ideafabrik.com.
Safe Harbor: Statements contained in this news release, other than those identifying historical facts, constitute ‘forward-looking statements’. Such forward-looking statements relating to the Company’s future expectations, including but not limited to revenues and earnings, technology efficacy, strategies and plans, are subject to safe harbors protection. Actual Company results and performance may be materially different from any future results, performance, strategies, plans, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by any such forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.
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