Swedish Distributor Forms New Publishing Company

Swedish wholesaler and distributor Game Outlet is launching its own video games publishing business. Nordic Games Publishing will be a wholly owned company, with a range of "premium licensed and new IP products" on the PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS and PC formats. Focusing on the budget and mid-price market, the company hopes to expand across other formats in the longer term. Game Outlet is one of continental Europe’s biggest distributors, with turnover last year of over €20 million ($30m). Nordic Games already has five projects in development across 11 SKUs, although the details of this initial wave of titles haven't yet been announced. The games will be distributed across Europe through a mixture of traditional retail, distributors and the "Game Outlet Pallet" network. The company hopes to join up with publishing partners in the U.S. and Japan. Pelle Lundborg, publishing director of Nordic Games, says, "This is an exciting time for the group, and with the huge expansion of the market we feel it is the right time to enter the publishing business." "Our unique distribution method means that platforms like the Sony PlayStation 2, has at least another 3 years left in its lifecycle, and we are in a position to benefit from this," he says. "Also, being Swedish, we have adopted the IKEA philosophy, which means every product we do will aim to give consumers great quality and value, at tremendous prices."