Data Design Interactive Opens U.S. Office

Officials from UK developer and publisher Data Design Interactive (DDI) have announced that the company is to open a new U.S. office in Sarasota in Florida. The office will be primarily dedicated to next generation games development. The company has already seen success with the Wii exclusive Popcorn Arcade label, while DDI itself is part of Green Solutions Ltd. (GSL), which owns the Myth Makers and Kidz Sports brands and the publishing rights to the GODS development system. Other subsidiaries include computer animation company Artworld Studios and in-game advertising and custom games company Advergaming. Stewart Green, managing director of DDI commented, "With so many games companies losing millions, and UK companies forced to leave the country to cut costs, I ‘m pleased to be part of a British success story, and this has been a very successful year for our company.” “Our GODS development system has enabled us to design and publish 62 Wii SKUs in under a year," he continued, "which probably makes us the biggest and most reliable Wii developer in the world, our titles have sold very well and we now need to expand the company to keep up with the global demand for even more of our titles.” “The decision to open a US office is not an exit from the UK," Green clarified. "In-fact our UK office is still undergoing expansion with a doubling of UK staff planned this year. The US office will be run as a separate US registered company, and will initially focus on a number of Wii sports titles specific to the US market, then start work on our PS3 and Xbox360 development. Although the tax breaks for Canada are good, the weather in Florida is far better, and we thought the staff would rather work there by the beach."