Video Gaming News - April 2003

New York, NY (April 3, 2003) - The worldwide interactive video game publishing rights to American Idol have been secured by game publisher Codemasters.  Under the license from FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment, Codemasters will launch an American Idol video game this fall for the PlayStation 2 and PC.

From Codemasters:

American Idol will be a music-based rhythm-action game, allowing players to create, style, train a character and compete as a singer. Each virtual contestant will then choose from more than 40 “top-ten” music tracks to perform for the judges. To ensure the American Idol game experience is truly authentic, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul will be featured as computer generated characters, complete with their colorful commentary.

The project is being developed for the PlayStation 2 and PC by Hothouse Creations, and was acquired by Codemasters under its business development and acquisitions program.

“To secure one of the most talked about, widely watched and most fascinating entertainment brands of recent years is a major landmark in Codemasters’ acquisition strategy,” said Gary Rowe, Codemasters’ Head of Business Development. “With the gaming industry established as a mass-market entertainment platform, the American Idol game will have an enormous impact.”

In its first season, American Idol was the highest rated show on Fox in over a year and the final episode attracted a staggering 22.8 million viewers. American Idol 2 is already well into its season and is achieving even more impressive audiences, with the premiere episode attracting nearly 27 million viewers.

“The American Idol video game is an incredibly exciting project for us and we’re delighted to have Codemasters as our worldwide publishing partner,” said Dom Wheeler, UK Licensing Manager at Fremantle Brand Licensing. “Codemasters has an excellent history for bringing extremely popular big-brand video games to market in the US and throughout the world. We strongly feel that working with Codemasters and Hothouse Creations, we have a game that truly reflects the show and gives everyone the chance to have the American Idol experience.”

“To have a video game based on the dominating American Idol series is a major success,” added Mike Hayes, Codemasters Group Marketing Director. “The power branding of American Idol, combined with an excellent music rhythm-based game has immense appeal to the far-reaching gaming audience on PlayStation®2 and PC.”

Codemasters will feature a first look at the American Idol video game at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, this May in Los Angeles. To keep up to date on the game, visit Codemasters online at www.codemasters.com/americanidol.

Codemasters will also publish “Pop Idol,” a UK edition of the game, based on the original British TV series.

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