I-Play Takes Mobile Games to TV

Sunday, 18 May 2008

I-Play and Aniboom have teamed up in order to translate original casual (mobile) games like Turbo Subs into animated TV series for both traditional, on-line and mobile TV channels.

“Turbo Subs” finds “Turbo Pizza” characters Rebecca and Robert continuing their pursuit of building the greatest restaurant franchise in town, except now they find themselves in the much bigger town of New York City. I-play will provide Aniboom with all raw material including characters, game story and all related background, and the series will then be produced by Aniboom for mobile, online and television platforms by teaming up with animators from the network’s global community of independent creators it connects with through Aniboom.com. Aniboom has brought in Chris Brown to serve as the writer of the Turbo Subs series. Brown has written for the hit television series “Friends” including the critically-acclaimed Year One season finale, “The One Where Rachel Finds Out,” and for popular animated series such as “What’s New, Scooby Doo?” and “Johnny Test”. I-play and Aniboom will collaborate closely on both the creation and the distribution of the new animated series.

“Aniboom’s partnership with Oberon demonstrates our commitment to seeking out the best animation-ready properties, like the characters and stories already much loved by game players around the world, and turning them into animations and cartoons that can drive revenue for Aniboom, for our content partners and for our creators community through a variety of channels—whether it be online, on cellular phones or on TV,” said Uri Shinar, founder and president of Aniboom. “‘Turbo Subs’ is going to bring fan favorite characters to life for the gamers who already know them and for new viewers everywhere, extending the reach of the franchise and offering audiences fantastic new ‘Turbo’ experiences.”

The news of the partnership between Aniboom and I-play complements the recent news of Aniboom’s partnerships with six additional mobile entertainment distributors, expanding Aniboom’s mobile reach by 200 million mobile users, and with five additional online video platforms expanding Aniboom’s online reach by 140 million viewers.

“Character development and great stories are an important part of our approach to game development, so we knew how important it was to find a great partner to translate them into an animated series,” said Don Ryan, senior vice president of publishing for Oberon Media. “Aniboom’s community of independent creators allows us to connect with the best animators and writers across the globe, and to get our content out to existing and new fans wherever they want to enjoy it through Aniboom’s array of cross-platform partnerships.”

Aniboom aims to meet the exploding demand for state-of-the-art animation in primetime television and feature films, digital gaming, web and mobile broadband platforms at an unprecedented cost-efficiency by creating a new production and distribution pipeline. This pipeline identifies and mobilizes the thousands of professional independent animators all over the world with the talent, the passion, and the same toolsets utilized by the large animation studios – but no meaningful access to the markets that need them. Aniboom’s Creators Studio allows animators of all levels to pitch, produce and monetize high-quality original animated content spanning a variety of genres for worldwide channels of distribution, all year round. Animators are able to earn money based on the popularity of their creation within the Aniboom distribution network, including Aniboom.com and branded areas on partners’ distribution platforms.

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