Leading casual games publisher, PlayFirst, Inc., today announced a partnership with Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft, to bring several popular PlayFirst titles, beginning with the smash hit, Diner Dash®, to digital download services for console systems in 2008. Additional titles included in the deal are Mystery of Shark Island(TM), Sandscript(TM), Zenerchi(TM), the award-winning Oasis(TM) and PlayFirst's new hit game, Chocolatier(TM).
"Our strategy has always included a keenly anticipated entry into the console space. As a leading publisher, our commitment to developers is to take their titles to casual gamers wherever they play," said Rich Roberts, Vice President of Business Development, PlayFirst. "To expand into this market we wanted to partner with an established publisher and Hudson's expertise in development for digital download services made them our first choice."
"PlayFirst is a leader in the casual games space and shares Hudson's goal of delivering top quality entertainment to a broad audience of players," said John Greiner, President and CEO of Hudson Entertainment. "Top casual games such as Diner Dash that have a wide appeal are driving a new era in console gaming. PlayFirst's portfolio combines the best in casual games with loveable characters, immersive storylines and incredibly fun gameplay – making them well suited for the fast-growing and increasingly mass market audience of digital download service users."
Diner Dash has been a No. 1 hit across major online game portals, mobile and retail, as well as a popular handheld title since its downloadable debut on PC and Mac in late 2004. The original game, developed by the award-winning independent studio Gamelab, is now a multi-million dollar franchise spanning three full-length casual games with a new sequel and an additional brand extension game currently in the works.
For more information or to download free trials of PlayFirst games please visit www.playfirst.com. For more information about Hudson Entertainment, please visit www.hudsonentertainment.com.