The New Way - Mastertronic and Rising Star join forces
Mastertronic and Rising Star Games are pleased to announce that they have entered into a partnership to bring the innovative range of Rising Star Games products to a broader retail base and together take the three-year old firm to the next publishing level.
Rising Star Games was incorporated in 2004 and is jointly owned by Japanese publisher/developer, Marvelous Interactive, and Nordic Nintendo distributor, Bergsala. In three short years the company's growth has been nothing short of stellar with a highly acclaimed, perfectly formed line up of Japanese games including renowned globally successful franchises Harvest Moon, Bomberman and Bubble Bobble.
Keen to maximize on every sales and publishing opportunity available, the firm has partnered with Mastertronic to tackle the ever changing and maturing UK retail landscape. The deal will also give access to the publishing experience and resources of the Britsoft operation.
Having recently revamped its sales and marketing team, Mastertronic will work alongside Rising Star Games' sales and marketing personnel thus equipping the company with all the resources of a larger publisher. At the same time, Mastertronic add the market leading Nintendo formats Wii and DS to their roster of products.
Martin Defries, Rising Star Games Managing Director & COO commented - "Rising Star Games is ready to take on the next challenge and compete with larger publishers. Working with a can-do company like Mastertronic puts us in an ideal position to do just that. Traditional 'distribution' is changing fast and we need a partner who believes in what we do and has the resources, scale and experience to match our ambitions. Mastertronic give us a new way of getting to market. We're really looking forward to working with them and pooling our respective talents to make Rising Star Games a publisher to be reckoned with."
Andy Payne, Mastertronic Group Managing Director commented - "Rising Star Games are just that. Their product line up and format selection is well matched and we look forward to helping them and ourselves reach a larger gaming demographic. With Blast, our specialist Kids' range for PS2, and our hardcore game PC ranges (PC Gamer Presents and MAD) and our market leading impulse buy range, Sold Out, we have some great brands. Bring it on"
Rising Star line-up -
Valhalla Knights - PSP September 2007
Luminous Arc - DS October 2007
Honeycomb Beat - DS October 2007
Bomberman Story DS - DS November 2007
For press information contact:
Mastertronic:
Kirsty Payne
Email - kirsty.payne@mastertronic.com
Tel - 0845 234 4242
www.mastertronic.com
Rising Star Games
Richard Barclay
Email: richard.barclay@risingstargames.com
Tel: 01582 635617
www.risingstargames.com
About the 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 digital distribution. In addition, MAD 4 Games, a wireless channel for content delivery to mobile phones was established first quarter 2004. More recently in 2006 Blast Entertainment was launched as part of the group and has rapidly become a leading video game company exclusively aimed at the younger end of the kids market. Blast develops new content based on recognised family friendly licenses from movies, TV, classic characters and toys. Also in 2007 Just Flight the leading worldwide flight simulation specialist was acquired by the group along with its sister company Just Trains. Just Flight was established in 1995 and within 3 years became the world's largest publisher of flight simulation software outside of Microsoft with a reputation for high quality products, published by genuine enthusiasts.
About Rising Star Games Limited - Rising Star is a video games publisher for Sony PSP®, Nintendo DS and PlayStation® 2 in the PAL territory. A joint venture between Japanese publisher /developer Marvelous Interactive and long standing Nintendo Nordic distributor Bergsala AB, the company introduces new games alongside enhanced and updated versions of some of interactive entertainment's most successful franchises. www.risingstargames.com.