REDMOND, Wash. — May 15, 2008 — Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Games and I-play, the publishing division of Oberon Media Inc., today unveiled “Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet,” the first interactive game based on a story and characters by best-selling author James Patterson. The first in a planned series of games based on Patterson’s massively popular “Women’s Murder Club” (“WMC”) books is debuting exclusively on MSN Games, one of the world’s leading casual gaming sites, in collaboration with the game’s creator, leading casual games publisher I-play. “Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet” is available exclusively on MSN Games through May 29.
The game, which features the characters from the “WMC” books and an all-new, never-before-seen storyline, is a thrilling seek-and-find adventure designed by award-winning game designer Jane Jensen in collaboration with Patterson. Its storyline lets fans experience the suspense of James Patterson’s stories interactively for the first time as they solve a chilling series of murders in San Francisco.
“The opportunity for casual games built around intriguing stories and compelling characters is largely untapped, and who better to lead the way than America’s No. 1 storyteller, James Patterson?” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “We’re thrilled to partner with James Patterson and I-play to debut a game of this caliber on MSN Games.”
The game will be promoted extensively throughout the MSN network, including on MSN.com, MSN Games, MSN Entertainment and MSN Shopping, as well as on Microsoft.com.
“MSN Games is a great place to debut a high-profile casual game with a powerful brand like James Patterson, based on the strength of their audience and the scope and reach of the MSN and Microsoft networks,” said Don Ryan, head of I-play. “We’re excited to work with them and are looking forward to an incredible debut for the first ‘Women’s Murder Club’ game.”
“Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet” is available exclusively at MSN Games from May 15 through May 29. Visit http://www.games.msn.com for more information.
About I-play
I-play is the world’s leading multi-platform casual games publisher. With strong franchises and massive distribution across PC, Mobile, and Interactive TV, I-play content reaches global consumers across the three most popular entertainment screens, and delivers fun, entertaining, accessible content to casual gamers of all ages. I-play’s PC publishing (formerly known as Oberon Games) is based in Seattle and created the hit Dream Day Series, as well as the first casual games for legendary mystery author Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile and Peril at End house. I-play’s mobile division has delivered some of the biggest selling franchises in the mobile space, including the world’s #1 best-selling racing franchise The Fast & the Furious series, based on the blockbuster movies. I-play’s interactive TV group (formerly PixelPlay) creates and distributes games featuring many top brands including Centipede™, Missile Command®, Asteroids™, Monopoly®, Scrabble®, Boggle®, and Yahtzee™. Headquartered in New York City, with offices in Seattle, San Mateo, London, and Dunfirmlin, Scotland, I-play is the publishing division of Oberon Media, Inc.
About Oberon Media
Oberon Media, the world’s leading multi-platform casual-games company, is the first company to deliver global, integrated casual-games solutions across online, mobile and interactive TV platforms, following its recent acquisitions of I-play and PixelPlay, respective leaders in the mobile games and iTV casual games markets.
The Oberon Game Center platform is the industry standard and has been adopted by some of the world’s largest corporations including Microsoft, Comcast, Verizon, Electronic Arts, MySpace, France Telecom and NHN. The platform combines casual-game content, merchandizing and features to fulfill each partner’s specific needs. Oberon Media’s publishing arm works with the industry’s best, award-winning game developers to produce the top-selling casual games, which can be played in more than a dozen languages across online, mobile, console and iTV platforms.
Founded in 2003, Oberon Media is headquartered in New York with offices across North America, Europe and Asia, and is backed by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Oak Investment Partners and Lehman Brothers. For more information visit: http://www.oberon-media.com.
About MSN Games
One of the largest and most established online games sites in the industry, MSN Games (http://www.games.msn.com) is the exclusive games channel for MSN. MSN Games hosts more than 14 million unique users each month and delivers a diverse selection of more than 600 free casual single-player and multiplayer games, downloadable games, and premium multiplayer games including action, puzzle, card, board, word and trivia games.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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