"SweetRobot will be focusing on publishing games outside the traditional high-end MMO-segment which Funcom has been focusing on the last years," says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "This will allow us to explore new market opportunities that differ from what we have been doing before while still retaining Funcom’s familiar profile. This definitely marks a new and exciting direction for us."

A team of fifteen people have been working on ‘Pets vs. Monsters’ for almost two years, during which time the team has also focused on developing a highly flexible game engine that can easily be customized to work with multiple concepts. ‘Pets vs. Monsters’ is the company’s first venture into the more casual, social gaming segment, and SweetRobot will use this as an opportunity to experiment with different concepts, gameplay mechanisms and business models. No release date has been set for ‘Pets vs. Monsters’, and the upcoming public beta is intended to help the developers gather early, but valuable feedback from the target audience that will prove important to the game’s direction and development.

"Our passion and dedication for high-end online games remains the same, and ‘Age of Conan’ and ‘The Secret World’ are still our primary focus", says Aas. "But we are also eager to explore new opportunities within the industry, and it felt natural for us to step into the social gaming segment especially considering our outstanding experience with making online worlds and communities. ‘Pets vs. Monsters’ is very much an exciting project for us, our first attempt at creating an online game for a younger target audience with gameplay mechanics and production values that differ from what we have done before. The fact that these productions require significantly lower budgets and smaller teams to develop is very attractive to us, as it allows us to try out several concepts instead of placing all our resources into one single bet."

‘Pets vs. Monsters’ is a massively multiplayer online game intended for children between eight and twelve years of age. The user is treated to a quick download and will be logged in and playing in no time due to the game’s streaming technology. Players will adventure through numerous different ‘worlds’ – from deserts to jungles – accompanied by their trusted pet which they ride into exciting battles. It is also possible to chat and play with other players from all over the world, and the game employs typical role-playing mechanics such as statistics, equipment and loot to incentivize progress.

For more information on ‘Pets vs. Monsters’ please visit the game’s official website.

Update: Here’s video from GameTrailers:

FremantleMedia, one of the largest creators and producers of global entertainment brands, today announces a strategic minority equity investment in Ludia, a leading developer and publisher of interactive casual games based in Montreal, Canada. The deal is part of FremantleMedia’s ongoing expansion into the high-growth video games market. It also follows a range of new growth initiatives by the company’s new business unit, FremantleMedia Ventures, and represents the division’s first equity investment.

“Ludia has rapidly carved out a unique position in the competitive video games market by combining a strong focus on quality, exceptional technology and a multiplatform strategy. The company’s leadership team is outstanding and has a strong track record in the industry,” said Christian Schneider-Sickert, FremantleMedia’s Director of Operations and Strategy, who will be joining Ludia’s board.

In these rocky economic times it seems like everyone is trimming down and getting leaner. That’s certainly the case for Eidos, as just two weeks after shuttering its Rockpool Games mobile branch the Tomb Raider pub has walked away from another studio, Gimme5games. However, rather than fold, the casual game dev now sings a song of independence, having reclaimed rights to the company’s games, sites and properties from its former partner.

Source

Interactive entertainment company Ludia and online game property WildTangent today announced a broad advertising sales agreement. WildTangent will be the exclusive in-game advertising and sponsorship representative for Ludia’s 2009 game titles including properties licensed from FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, such as American Idol(R) — Online Challenge, Price Is Right(TM) 2 and Press Your Luck(TM). The deal extends across all supported formats including the PC, Macintosh, Nintendo(TM) Wii and DS and the iPhone and iPod touch. FME will also continue to sell sponsorships across the whole spectrum of its interactive and brand portfolios through its Integrated Marketing and Sponsorship division.

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Ludia creates and distributes cross-platform interactive entertainment with mass consumer appeal. Ludia’s innovative and high-quality product portfolio consists of original and branded properties, including American Idol(R), Hell’s Kitchen(TM) and The Price Is Right(TM). Based in Montreal, Canada and founded by experienced industry players, Ludia completed its first round of financing from private investors in 2007.

Source