UK Studio's Latest Acquisition
Tenacious northern developer Virtucraft Studios Ltd, today announced the 1st in a series of changes to their staffing and company structure
The company changes kick off with the announcement that Virtucraft Studios Ltd is to acquire a controlling interest, as the first stage in a full merger with up and coming new media developer Mass Market Media, who’s most recent project is an interactive TV colouring game, available to SKY digital viewers in the UK, which was produced for the BBC.
Over the 12 months, which saw the return of a 1st year operating profit, Mass Market Media Ltd. has developed interactive content on web, interactive TV and mobile platforms for clients that include the BBC, Littlewoods Leisure, ntl:home, Digital Bridges and UPC.
The acquisition of the company sees MMM’s Managing Director Tim Harvey join the board of Virtucraft Studios Ltd and his fellow MMM directors taking on senior positions in the new management structure. This development sees the formation of a full board for the first time at Virtucraft Studios; further appointments will be announced as they are made.
This merger is seen as a mutual benefit to both companies, with MMM relocating to Virtucraft Studios’ Bolton based offices, and reducing its working overheads significantly, as well as giving it access to greater development resources, while Virtucraft gains an experienced media team and access to new markets that it has been interested in to compliment its mainstream console development
Brian Beuken, Managing Director of Virtucraft Studios commented on the merger,
“Commercially this is a perfect marriage of two companies that share a need to exploit a thriving new market, but lack resources the other has. We have already proved ourselves as developers on phones and other wireless systems, but lacked market presence to fully exploit our development skills. MMM provide that missing link and gives us the opportunity to expand their own development capacity dramatically. I’m very much looking forward to working with Tim and the guys for many profitable years to come.”
Tim Harvey of Mass Market commented
“The complementary strengths of this partnership are exceptional, as we take the best of our combined technologies, products, channel and market focus to create a new force in mass-market interactive entertainment. We look forward to passing on every benefit and advantage of this move to existing and future clients.”
About Mass Market Media:
Mass Market Media Ltd's studio offers creative, graphical and programming resource that covers conceptualisation, prototyping, production and maintenance of interactive products across the spectrum of mainstream digital delivery formats.
Over the past year Mass Market Media Ltd. has brought interactive content on web, interactive TV and mobile platforms to consumers across the UK and Europe for clients that include the BBC, Littlewoods Leisure, ntl Digital Bridges and UPC Chello.
More details about Mass Market Media Ltd. can be found at www.massmarketmedia.co.uk
About Virtucraft Studios Ltd:
Virtucraft Studios Ltd is a multi-format games developer based in Bolton near Manchester. After establishing an enviable reputation as one of Europe’s leading handheld developers the company added next gen development capabilities mid 2002 and its first console products are due on the market Q2 2003. Virtucraft Studios offers an extensive range of development services and it working on several original IP’s for future release.
More details about Virtucraft Studios Ltd can be found at www.virtucraft.com
Over the 12 months, which saw the return of a 1st year operating profit, Mass Market Media Ltd. has developed interactive content on web, interactive TV and mobile platforms for clients that include the BBC, Littlewoods Leisure, ntl:home, Digital Bridges and UPC.
The acquisition of the company sees MMM’s Managing Director Tim Harvey join the board of Virtucraft Studios Ltd and his fellow MMM directors taking on senior positions in the new management structure. This development sees the formation of a full board for the first time at Virtucraft Studios; further appointments will be announced as they are made.
This merger is seen as a mutual benefit to both companies, with MMM relocating to Virtucraft Studios’ Bolton based offices, and reducing its working overheads significantly, as well as giving it access to greater development resources, while Virtucraft gains an experienced media team and access to new markets that it has been interested in to compliment its mainstream console development
Brian Beuken, Managing Director of Virtucraft Studios commented on the merger,
“Commercially this is a perfect marriage of two companies that share a need to exploit a thriving new market, but lack resources the other has. We have already proved ourselves as developers on phones and other wireless systems, but lacked market presence to fully exploit our development skills. MMM provide that missing link and gives us the opportunity to expand their own development capacity dramatically. I’m very much looking forward to working with Tim and the guys for many profitable years to come.”
Tim Harvey of Mass Market commented
“The complementary strengths of this partnership are exceptional, as we take the best of our combined technologies, products, channel and market focus to create a new force in mass-market interactive entertainment. We look forward to passing on every benefit and advantage of this move to existing and future clients.”
About Mass Market Media:
Mass Market Media Ltd's studio offers creative, graphical and programming resource that covers conceptualisation, prototyping, production and maintenance of interactive products across the spectrum of mainstream digital delivery formats.
Over the past year Mass Market Media Ltd. has brought interactive content on web, interactive TV and mobile platforms to consumers across the UK and Europe for clients that include the BBC, Littlewoods Leisure, ntl Digital Bridges and UPC Chello.
More details about Mass Market Media Ltd. can be found at www.massmarketmedia.co.uk
About Virtucraft Studios Ltd:
Virtucraft Studios Ltd is a multi-format games developer based in Bolton near Manchester. After establishing an enviable reputation as one of Europe’s leading handheld developers the company added next gen development capabilities mid 2002 and its first console products are due on the market Q2 2003. Virtucraft Studios offers an extensive range of development services and it working on several original IP’s for future release.
More details about Virtucraft Studios Ltd can be found at www.virtucraft.com