News
The Paris Region and The City of Paris backs important game technology initiative.
Five French developers unite for a common middleware standard.
4th December 2007. Paris, France. Convinced that the next revolution in the game development industry is collaboration and mutual assistance between studios, five French developers have decided to put aside their fear of sharing technology, know-how and teams of programmers, to secure the development of their own crossplatform tool chain standard.
The project called PLAY ALL is initiated by Darkworks, Kylotonn, Load Inc., White Birds Productions, Wizarbox and supported by major French engineering schools in computer science and technology start-ups. These five companies are setting up a common game technology company and technology centre specifically to house the middleware project and gather a team of more than 40 engineers over the next 2 years.
With a 13M€ budget PLAY ALL is backed by the Parisian business cluster Cap Digital and is supported by a 6,5M€ funding combined from the City of Paris the Paris region and from the French Minister of Industry.
The Île-de-France regional council supports video games designers from the region and has made the industry one of its strategic axes for regional development in the information technology and media sector. Ile-de-France was also the first to encourage cooperation between studios from 2004 onwards and plays a decisive role in the industry at local level through the establishment of CapitalGames. The region is also a committed supporter of the national policy to promote the industry and in particular the Video Game Production Tax Credit project.
In the PLAY ALL project for a common technical platform the Regional Council reasserts its long-term structural vision for the industry.
« We have been a major partner for the last five years for Ile-de-France video games designers. We also support the popular enthusiasm for this medium by holding events for young people such as the Video Games World Cup and the Video Game Festival for all the family. Our commitment to gamers and designers remains relevant in 2008 with wonderful projects scheduled », declared Ile-de-France Regional Council President Jean-Paul Huchon.
Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris said, « Paris in the 21st century will not confine itself to conserving its rich heritage. We also need to build a city that’s fit for the future and prepared to meet the competitive challenges of the next 20 years. The city needs to provide attractive conditions to foster capital formation and job creation in the human services industry, the biotechnology sector and cutting-edge digital technologies. ».
He continued, « Paris has shown itself to be extremely creative in relation to Web 2.0, the video-game industry, and strategic technological sectors, such as Internet research, and I am extremely keen to promote awareness of the “Paris brand” in this field of innovation. »
Targeting all major hardware platforms, the consortium’s plan is to give wide access to the tool chain to French and European developers interested in sharing technology and adopting a common standard. An Interest Group will be formed in 2008, when the Beta is ready.
Guillaume Gouraud, Managing Director, Darkworks, Representative of the PLAY ALL consortium added, « Collaboration and consolidation of crossplatform technology standards between independent studios is the next revolution in our industry. Our five companies are taking this bold step now in preparation for the present and next cycle of growth».
Hubert Sarret and Arnaud Carré members of the PLAY ALL Technical Committee will give a talk entitled « The collaborative revolution » at the imminent GDC Lyon. The two Technical Directors will introduce the project and share their methodology for successful technical collaboration as well as their thoughts about the benefits of a common technology standard between independent studios.
About PLAY ALL
Based in Paris, France, PLAY ALL is a new software company specializing in interactive digital media creation tools for the game and 3D virtual reality businesses.
The PLAY ALL Company is a technology joint venture of five game development companies, Darkworks, Kylotonn, LoadInc, White Birds Productions and Wizarbox.
Building on the expertise of a team of 40 engineers and internal technologies from its founders, PLAY ALL tools are crafted to free developers from technical constraints and let brilliant ideas spark from creative minds straight to the display screen, with the least possible effort.
Company strategy is firmly based on standardization, openness and expertise-sharing between development teams and committed individuals from all over the world.
PLAY ALL joint venture also benefits from the active support of Microsoft’s France Startup Accelerator Program, an initiative dedicated to promote and support the growth of high potential software companies in France.
To learn more about PLAY ALL contact: info[at]playall.fr