GAME go mad for mobile
Two of the biggest names in the games industry have teamed up
to offer a complete games solution to mobile phone owners.
GAME Stores Group and The Mastertronic Group have entered
into a strategic partnership which will see them bring
quality, value and choice to their customers via
Mastertronic's mobile specialist subsidiary MAD4Games.
GAME, the UK's leading specialist games retailer, will use
MAD4Games' mFlare technology to sell quality-approved Java
games direct to its customers via the enormously successful
GAME.NET website.
The mFlare solution provides a complete framework for the
GAME MOBILE service, from built-in marketing and editorial
through to integrated customer support, incentive schemes and
more.
The titles available will be chosen by GAME from the
quality-approved Mad4Games' catalogue. All genres of games
will be available, chosen from the product lines of the
world's leading mobile content suppliers.
All titles will be made available at a value price of £3.00
each, billed direct to user's handsets, thereby opening up
the service to all users irrespective of credit/debit card
ownership.
Steve Cooke, Managing Director of MAD4Games commented,
"GAME's unique relationship with its customers is proven by
over 5m loyalty card holders. Its reputation at retail,
combined with the simplicity of the mFlare solution and the
MAD4Games focus on quality, marks a major step forward for
the trusted supply of mobile content in the UK."
Kieron Smith, Head of Online Operations at GAME added "This
is an outstanding opportunity for our mobile phone owning
customers to get into playing games. Thanks to MAD4Games, we
can offer our customers the best mobile games on the market
and with Mad4Games' leading edge technology the buying
process is made easy for them too."
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About Mastertronic Group Limited
Mastertronic is one of the best known electronic
entertainment brands in Europe. It pioneered the European
console market with its launch of the Sega Master System,
invented the budget retail sector and built an international
development and publishing operation under the Virgin
Mastertronic label.
The brand was subsequently relaunched as The Mastertronic
Group Limited in 2003 by founder Frank Herman, together with
Andy Payne and Garry Williams.
The Group now leads the European value publishing sector
through its retail brands M.A.D. (Mastertronic Added
Dimension), Sold Out (the UK's largest-selling budget
operation, acquired by the Group in 2004) and PC Gamer
Presents, a unique quality-assured brand in association with
the leading games magazine publisher Future Publishing.
The Group also offers, through its wholly owned subsidiary
The Producers Limited (also acquired in 2004) a 'cradle to
grave' total turnkey service for physical product, from
marketing through packaging and warehousing to retail and
electronic distribution. In addition, MAD 4 Games, a wireless
channel for content delivery to mobile phones was established
first quarter 2005.
About Mad4Games Limited
Mad 4 Games Limited ('MAD4G') is the wireless content and
logistics subsidiary of The Mastertronic Group.
Mad4G is based in Central London and was set up in 2004 to
create customer-facing content management, billing and
support systems focused on the delivery of Java games direct
to end users via independent non-operator portals. The
company operates its own distribution channel under the
Mad4Games brand as well as over a dozen affiliate channels
for major media and retail organisations. MAD4G's operations
are currently UK-focused with joint venture partnerships
planned in other territories for Q3 2006.
The MAD4G credo is based on quality of product, range, value
and access. MAD4G's catalogue is licensed from the world's
foremost mobile games publishers and developers. In a
concerted effort to 'raise the game' of mobile entertainment,
Mad4G operates a unique screening service: every title
proposed by partners for distribution is game- and
focus-tested before going live on the service, providing both
quality-assurance and age-rating benchmarks. Java games are
offered for download at £3.00 each. The Company does not
operate a subscription model.
MAD4G offers its partners the broadest possible channel to
consumers, selling mobile games via Java clients, Flash
applications (on the Web and PC CD-ROM), WAP sites and off
the page, maximising channel bandwidth for its suppliers and
ensuring that customers can acquire mobile content easily, at
any time, in any place, at value prices.
About GAME
GAME is Europe's leading specialist retailer of computer
software and video games. The Group currently operates from
over 400 stores in the UK and Eire and 300 stores in
continental Europe. For further corporate information log
onto www.gamegroup.plc.uk, and for
the new look on-line store log onto www.game.net.'