UTV Completes Ignition Entertainment Acquisition

Officials from UK-based Ignition Entertainment have announced the completion of a 70 percent controlling share acquisition of the Mercury Meltdown developer by India based media firm UTV Software Communications. The acquisition, first announced in December, was closed as of March 12. According to Ignition representatives, the company is currently in negotiations with unspecified development teams in an effort to “bolster its release schedule for 2007/08 and elevate the company’s prominence within the gaming sector.” The statement announcing the completion of the deal further notes that the companies are “investigating possibilities in securing original content,” and that “many changes” will take place at Ignition during coming year as the company positions itself to release “original IPs and licenses across a number of formats.” Ignition's founder and CEO Vijay Chadha adds that the share acquisition “marks the beginning of an aggressive plan for Ignition Entertainment’s future,” and that the company “will soon be announcing new products for the upcoming year,” along with more details concerning its upcoming PlayStation 3 title Wardevil. Ignition is perhaps best known for developing the PSP puzzle game Archer Maclean's Mercury, as well as its more recent sequel for the PlayStation 2, Mercury Meltdown Remix. However, the studio responsible for those titles, Ignition's Banbury development studio, was purchased by UK-headquartered developer Rebellion Studios in March. Mercury Meltdown Revolution, the latest game in the franchise, is expected to ship for the Wii in the May/June time frame. “UTV Software has vast expertise in the movie and entertainment industry which will provide greater potential to our development and publishing partners as we ensure their titles reach the biggest audience possible,” added Chadha.