Auran Expands, Forms N3VRF41L Publishing

The Directors of veteran Australian developer Auran have announced the formation of a new publishing house called N3VRF41L Publishing, in order to help expand Auran's rapidly growing publishing division with a distinctive brand. Auran Games will remain focused exclusively on game development. “N3VRF4IL will be releasing original titles aimed at audiences of 100,000–1,000,000 players, which is just below the threshold to gain the attention of the major publishers,” added Graham Edelsten, N3VRF41L Director of Global Publishing. “We will offer users thriving online communities built around their game of choice. In addition to titles from publishers such as Jowood, Paradox and Monte Cristo, we have initially licensed two key titles from Auran Games to fulfill this aim: Trainz Railroad Simulator and Hive.” Trainz Railroad Simulator has sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide and is supported by an active online community. Over the last 5 years, members have created and made available over 60,000 items of content to expand the user experience. The Trainz forum has hosted more than a million posts discussing rail, Trainz and other gaming issues. In addition, the company announced that in 2007 it will release Hive (working title), an online socialization environment that allows users to occupy a 3D avatar and interact with other users online. Participants will be able to host parties in their own self styled virtual apartment, chat, flirt, listen to music and buy the both virtual and real products. “N3VRF41L aims to fill the huge gap in the gaming industry between casual games and major blockbuster titles,” stated Tony Hilliam, CEO. “The big publishers are spending ever greater budgets developing titles that have mass market appeal and are required to sell more than 2 million copies to recoup their investment. Because of the return required, they generally avoid taking risks on original IP and more specialized entertainment products that appeal to a smaller audience,” Mr Hilliam stated. Hilliam continued, stating, “N3VRF41L will be meeting with developers, publishers and IP owners at E3 in order to source a range of quality, targeted titles from around the world. Once selected, we will then work with publishing and distribution partners in individual territories to provide local support and marketing for each of the products.”