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PLAY ALL is a new company emerging into the field of video game technology thanks to competitivness clusters |
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Les Ulis, France, December 4, 2007
A member of Microsoft France’s IDEES program, PLAY ALL unites the talents and technologies of five video game companies to create and promote a common platform and development center. The PLAY ALL project was founded by five game development studios in the Greater Paris Region, which also involves engineering schools, cutting-edge university laboratories and specialized middleware companies. PLAY ALL’s goal is to develop creation tool middleware that can be used across all video game platforms.
PLAY ALL is in a particularly advantageous position to tackle the technology challenges facing the video game field over the short and medium-terms, that is, being able to provide a tried and proven solution for new “HD” generation consoles (particularly PlayStation3 and Xbox360), as well as for Internet-based multi-player games. PLAY ALL will also extend the production chain to include consoles such as Nintendo and Wii, portable devices such as Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, as well as those from previous generations, such as PlayStation2.
The development sector in France and Europe will benefit from PLAY ALL as a critical tool for sustaining technological independence. PLAY ALL’s objective is to ensure that development studios can leverage a software suite that is interoperable with 100% of the market, as well as to make sure that independent developers have access to the key software technologies needed for developing top quality games. This includes 3-D display engines for game consoles, network engines, animation engines and more.
Five renowned studios are highly active in the PLAY ALL project: Darkworks, project leader, and Kylotonn, LoadInc, White Birds Productions and Wizarbox. Four companies specialized in middleware development are also involved: Bionatics, AtOnce Technologies, Spirops and Voxler, as well as four of the four top academic research laboratories in France, LIRIS, CNAM, LIP6 and ENST.
The five studios created PLAY ALL right in the heart of Paris as a subsidiary and common technology center. This structure will house the project and bring together the entire team dedicated to middleware creation at a single location. Over the next two years, a team of over 40 programmers and engineers will work on the project. Twenty-five jobs have already been created, with another 15 yet to come.
Having obtained its official project label from the Paris-based Cap Digital competitiveness cluster, PLAY ALL development is scheduled over two years with an overall budget of 13M€. The project is supported by 6.5M€ in funding from the French government, with 2.6M€ from an inter-ministry fund dedicated to business competitiveness managed by the General Department of Trade (DGE), 1.9 M€ from the Ile-de-France Region, as well funding from several Departments, namely 0.8M€ from Paris, 0.4 M€ from Hauts-de-Seine and 0.4 M€ from Val-de-Marne.
By the end of 2006, the Ile-de-France Region and the Department of Paris had already shown their support for PLAY ALL by investing in a 6-month startup phase (235K€ and 184K€ respectively).
PLAY ALL also benefits from active support by Microsoft’s IDEES (“ideas”) program, an initiative that supports and promotes the growth of innovative companies in France. In early 2008, an editing organization will be created in order to promote PLAY ALL and prepare the groundwork for sales activities, scheduled to start in late 2009.
While PLAY ALL’s main objective is to provide a practical and rapidly operational way to meet the challenges in today’s video game market, another of its goals is to evolve over time to ensure very early access to the foundation technologies of tomorrow’s game generations and “serious” interactive applications. The next industrial cycle in this field is expected to begin around 2011, at which time PLAY ALL will be ready as a mature and perfectly adapted tool.
Focusing on home and portable game consoles, PLAY ALL’s optimized multi-platform architecture will also seek to extend is expertise, starting in 2008, into 3-D smartphone platforms and consumer electronics devices running Linux, such as set-top boxes and multimedia readers. PLAY ALL intends to cover all the technologies involved in these areas from creation to electronic distribution.
“In our industry, the next revolution will be based on collaboration and consolidation of technology standards among independent studios. Our five companies are heading this direction starting right now so that we are ready for future growth cycles, where access to technology will be one of the keys to success and where the development of multiplatform games will require teams of 200-300 people,” says Guillaume Gouraud, General Manager of Darkworks, representative in the PLAY ALL Consortium.
PLAY ALL’s underlying goal is to enable a company with enough critical mass in key technologies and interactivity to emerge in the current technology cycle, on today’s consoles.
The consortium’s goal will then be to position the PLAY ALL company as one of the world’s Top 5 game technology suppliers as the next console cycle takes shape.
The Ile-de-France Regional Council provides support for local video game creators, and has established this as a strategic direction for regional development of information and media technologies. As early as 2004, the Region was the first to encourage cooperation between studios on R&D issues. Since that time, it has played an important role in the sector locally, creating CapitalGames, a regional program to encourage international development. The Region also actively supports national policy to promote this sector, in particular with respect to the Video Game Production Tax Credit.
With the PLAY ALL technology platform, the Ile-de-France Regional Council confirms its constructive long-term vision in the video game sector.
“For the past 5 years, we have been a privileged partner for video game creators in the Greater Paris Region, but we also support popular enthusiasm for game media by organizing events such as the Video Game World Cup for the younger generation, and the Video Game Festival for the entire family. This commitment with respect to both players and creators will continue into 2008 with other dynamic projects now being prepared”, says Jean Paul Huchon, President of the Ile-de-France Regional Council.
About PLAY ALL
Based in Paris, France, PLAY ALL is a new software company specialized in creation tools and technologies for video game and virtual world markets. PLAY ALL is a joint technology venture that unites five game developers in the Greater Paris Region: Darkworks, Kylotonn, LoadInc, White Birds Productions and Wizarbox.
Leveraging the expertise of its team of 40 engineers, as well as the internal technologies of its founding companies, PLAY ALL’s goal is provide creative tools to free developers from constraints related to developing multi-platform games so that they can express their creative energy and talents on all types of media in the game market, such as PC, Microsoft Xbox360, Live Arcade, Sony PlayStation3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. The company’s strategy is firmly committed to standardizing technology, as well as opening and sharing expertise with game developers around the world.
About Cap Digital
CAP DIGITAL is a French Competiveness Cluster whose mission is to transform the Greater Paris Region into an international reference in the digital content and knowledge industry. To encourage and support business performance in this sector, the cluster helps bring together know-how from various sources, organize industry networks, stimulate innovation and highlight local advantages. Cap Digital is a European-wide cluster focusing on 6 strategic fields: Digital education, Image, sound, and interaction, Knowledge engineering, Video games, Digital heritage, Services and uses. It carries out four main types of actions: stimulating research and development by certifying relevant projects and encouraging cross-fertilization of innovation; providing support for growing companies by setting up efficient partnerships and helping them obtain funding; encouraging the sharing of knowledge and building the network of professionals in the Greater Paris Region by organizing regular interactive events; and by making it easier for members to reach international markets by promoting them through marketing and partnership activities.
About Microsoft IDEES
Launched in October 2005, the IDEES program (initiative for the economic development of software developers and startups, or “ideas” in French) associates Microsoft France with innovative companies in the software market. IDEES is part of Microsoft’s international Emerging Business program. France was the first country in Europe in which the initiative was launched. A special team was built within Microsoft’s Platform and Ecosystem division to provide privileged support for selected high-potential companies.
http://www.Microsoft.com/france/apropos/idees/
PLAY ALL Press Contact
Michel Bams – Tel.: +33 (0)1 42 83 51 69 – Mail: mbams@playall.fr
Microsoft France Press Contact
Julien Codorniou – Tel.: +33 (0)6 64 40 67 60 – Mail: julienco@microsoft.com
Euro RSCG&CO for Microsoft
Barbara Coumaros – Tel.: +33 (0)1 58 47 95 56 – Mail: barbara.coumaros@eurorscg.fr