Hayao Nakayama/Virgin PLAY deal
Former Sega boss invests in Spain-based publisher.
Hayao Nakayama, former President of Sega Enterprises, during the 80’s and 90’s boom years of Sega Coin Op, Master System and Megadrive, has made a personal investment in Virgin Play S.A. via his venture capital company, Amuse Capital Inc.
In recent months, Virgin Play has engaged in high profile licensing activities for its publishing off shoot V.2Play, with the signing of Real Madrid Interactive rights for several years including online community and mobile versions, and Pocoyo and Lola & Virginia, both very high profile internationally distributed children’s cartoons. It also has an exciting cluster of home grown IP’s led by Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come on PC and Mind Your Language on Nintendo DS.
The investment of Hayao Nakayama represents a turning point for the company in both giving Virgin Play access to the lucrative Japanese market.
Virgin Play SA President Tim Chaney said “It is a great opportunity for Virgin Play to work with Hayao Nakayama. The word ‘legend’ is over used in this business but Mr. Nakayama truly deserves the accolade. I have known him for over 20 years and I am never less than bewildered by his business acumen. We see clearly the expansion of our business in Japan and throughout Asia and welcome the incremental high profile business we can achieve with the titles to be collected through Mr. Nakayama’s good connections and intelligence network in the industry.” www.v2play.com
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For more information:
Financial:
Tim Chaney President Virgin PLAY S.A.
Francisco Encinas CEO
Tlf. +34 91 789 35 50
Press:
Press Dpt.
Pº Castellana, 9-11
Madrid 28046 SPAIN
Tel.: +34 91 789 35 50
Contact: PR@virginplay.es
Website: www.v2play.com
About Virgin PLAY:
Virgin Interactive España opened its doors in 1995 with Mariele Isidoro and Francisco Encinas as a subsidiary of the Virgin Interactive, owned by VIACOM. In May of 2002 Tim Chaney and Francisco Encinas lead a management buyout and renamed the company Virgin PLAY becoming the exclusive distributor in the Spanish and Portuguese markets for companies such as: Midway, Ignition (SNK), Koch Media and Koei just to name a few.
During this period, Virgin PLAY has become a leader in the videogame sector being responsible for launching franchises such as: Resident Evil, Command and Conquer, Driver and Baldur’s Gate and is also the first 100% Spanish publisher for consoles.
Virgin´s first publishing projects were Torrente 3, Dead & Furious and Final Armada. The company will add on to their catalogue with titles such as Donkey Xote, Snow x Racing, The Crusades and Real Madrid, which will be published under Virgins new brand: V2Play.
Virgin sells and distributes its products worldwide using local distributors as well as their own offices in Spain and Portugal. For more information: www.virginplay.es