Imagination leads a brand new consumer category!
For immediate release - October 2004
A brand new consumer entertainment category has arrived! From just an idea in 2001, DVD games are now a reality; one that has revolutionized the board game experience and created a whole new way to play.
The DVD games category will exceed US$100M in sales in 2004 with only ten titles from four players. That sum equals 10% of total board game sales in the US and is growing exponentially.
A global games company based in Australia, Imagination Entertainment pioneered the DVD games category and is the category's current worldwide leader.
Chief Executive of Imagination Entertainment, Shane Yeend said: "With more DVD game titles than Hasbro and Mattel combined, Imagination Entertainment maintains its position as the DVD games market leader through the continual introduction of strong, inventive titles such as our latest: SpongeBob SquarePants Fact or Fishy."
The SpongeBob title joins a stable of five previously released DVD games including MGM Screen Test and Family Feud. With an additional 17 DVD games in production for the US, there's no question as to why Imagination Entertainment is the market leader.
When Imagination introduced DVD games at the 2002 American International Toy Fair, game giants Hasbro and Mattel quickly acknowledged the new category. Within nine months, both companies launched a 'big box board game' containing a DVD component with as few as 180 individual video clips. Imagination's latest DVD games have anywhere from 450 to 550 different clips on one interactive DVD.
Since then Imagination Entertainment has partnered exclusively with Hasbro in Europe, targeting 46 countries over 10 years to build and support the DVD games category. This venture is estimated to generate sales of $100M Euro p/a within three years.
Why DVD Games? The DVD player is the fastest growing consumer product of all time, outpacing the CD player, cell phone and computer. Today, 150 million households have a DVD player. By 2009, 464 million homes will have a DVD player and exceed in number the 435 million homes with VCRs.
"The board game space was stale and screaming for innovation, so in 2001, we wrote software that enables randomization on a DVD that gives consumers a new way to play games on DVD," Mr Yeend said. "We saw the undeniable potential for the success of DVD games, and rather than creating a single game, we launched an entire category. We built a global infrastructure to support DVD games from concept to consumer in less than three months."
"We merged our two successful businesses - interactive TV and traditional board games - and put them in a box for under $20.00 at retail. The DVD game was born."
"Using a combination of licensed brands and content including Nickelodeon (SpongeBob), MGM (Movie Library) and Fremantle Media (Game Shows), we have created a range of new ways to play for adults, family and children. We've adapted game shows, activity games, edutainment games, trivia games, party games and even card games to the versatile DVD game format. All you need is a standard DVD player and the remote control!"
Mr Yeend said: "There will always be major players dominating the games category. But there will always
be one audacious little company that revolutionizes things.
"Imagination is that little audacious company. We have changed the way people will play board games forever."
For Additional Information:
Sarah Abbott, Imagination PR Manager sarah.abbott@imaginationgames.com