Strategy
Empire announced its new strategy in 2003 - to develop high quality games capable of being turned into successful franchises. We now have two clear stands to our business - frontline and value. The frontline titles are full-priced games that we publish in Europe and the US and include, most recently, Starsky & Hutch, Bad Boys II and Big Mutha Truckers. Development of the sequels to these titles are currently under way and are expected to be released during 2004/5. Click here to view all of our games.
Our value range began life in 2002 under the Xplosiv banner, becoming the fastest growing PC budget range in Europe. 2003 saw a move into budget PS2 titles, the success of which has led us to specifically develop games in the PS2 value space, most notably, Ford Racing 2, which we have published on both sides of the Atlantic. Further titles are under development.
Partnerships
A key part of Empire's international success is its relationships with its development and distribution partners. Empire quickly realised that a strong partner for its distribution would be essential to broadening its customer base in North America, due to the sheer size of the territory.
Over the past 3 years we have worked in North America with Vivendi Universal and more recently Take 2 Games and THQ - all which have ensured Empire's games have hit the stores with maximum impact.
In Europe we partner with local distribution specialists, whilst in the UK we use our long-standing relationships with retailers to sell our products directly to them.
We are also heavily involved with some of the best development studios in Europe, with whom we partner to publish completed titles . Some of our more recent collaborations have been with Bugbear Entertainment (Flat Out) and Supersonic Software (Mashed) both titles Empire will publish in 2004.
In Asia, we work closely with companies such as Taito to publish our games in Japan and to publish their games in the UK (Space Invaders 25th Anniversary Edition).
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