VU Games to distribute Novalogic in North America

Publishers Vivendi Universal Games and Novalogic have struck a deal which will see VUG distributing all of the smaller company's current and upcoming titles in North America, including Novalogic's latest, Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising.

The agreement, which becomes effective on July 9th, makes VU Games into the exclusive distributor for Novalogic products in the USA and Canada, while Novalogic will continue to oversee development, production, marketing and PR for all titles.

"Military combat simulations are a strong category in our industry, and Novalogic has established itself as a leader in this market," according to VU Games' North American president, Philip O'Neill. "Novalogic's decision to partner with VU Games underscores our continued strength as a leading publisher and distributor in North America."

For Novalogic's part, the new agreement "will allow both companies to grow and prosper in the very competitive video game climate of today," according to Novalogic president Lee Milligan. "This agreement combined top-quality titles with top-quality distribution," he enthused in an official statement.

Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising will be the first major title to be included under the deal. The game, which has performed fairly well at retail so far, made the news late last month when Novalogic claimed that it had set a new record for the number of simultaneous players in a first-person shooter online game, with 160 players participating in a specially organised event.

Sony Online Entertainment, however, contests the record - pointing out that its massively multiplayer FPS title PlanetSide regularly has 500 players in a single area, and 2000 players on a single server, with its peak being reached in May 2003 when 3600 players took part in a massive battle on the Emerald server.