Zoo Digital Regulatory News (ZOO)

14 Apr 2005 07:00

Zoo Digital Group PLC14 April 2005 Embargoed for 0700 on Thursday 14 April 2005 ZOO DIGITAL GROUP PLC ("ZOO" or "the Group") UPDATE ON GAMES PUBLISHING ZOO Digital Publishing Ltd ("ZDPL"), the games publishing division of ZOODigital Group plc, today announced that it has secured the rights to publish aportfolio of twenty-two games from Destination Software Inc ("DSI"). The dealbrings the total number of games in ZOO's active portfolio to over 60. The dealis estimated to deliver around £3 million in games sale revenues to ZOO over thenext two years. In a separate agreement announced today ZOO has extended it relationship withUniversal Pictures and agreed to publish the next version of its popularfootball DVD Game 'International Championship Challenge 2'. DSI Games Portfolio ZOO has secured the rights to publish twenty-two DSI products over the next twoyears. Games featured in the agreement include four new titles for the recentlyreleased Nintendo DS handheld games console as well as six for the establishedGameBoy Advance ("GBA") device. Under a separate agreement ZOO have secured therights to a series of twelve compilations from DSI for GBA consoles. Eachcompilation will include three games on one cartridge. These games will startshipping from June 2005. In both cases ZOO will pay DSI an advance against aroyalty on sales of the games. International Championship Challenge 2 Universal Pictures has secured the rights to publish the next version ofChampionship Challenge for Interactive DVD, this follows the success of thefirst release that Universal also published. The game will be released for thisChristmas 2005. ZOO will be paid a royalty for each unit sold. Ian Stewart, Chief Executive of ZOO Digital Group plc, commented: "We are extremely pleased to be able to extend our partnership with DSI whichdemonstrates their confidence in our ability to distribute its product . ZOO hasbuilt a solid reputation in the Nintendo hand-held market and we now have theproducts to exploit the already successful new Nintendo DS. The games furtherunderline the quality of our games portfolio and will help the continued growthof our publishing business. Universal's confidence in the Interactive DVD market is again confirmed withthem committing to International Championship Challenge 2. We expect to see lotsof further activity on this side of the business in the near future as we securemore rights." - ends - Enquiries: Ian Stewart James Chandler/Helen ThomasCEO, ZOO Digital Group plc Weber Shandwick Square Mile0114 241 3700 020 7067 0747 John Llewellyn-LloydNoble & Company Limited020 7763 2200 Notes to Editors: About ZOO Digital Group PLC ZOO is divided into two separate divisions; ZOOtech Ltd ("ZOOtech") and ZOODigital Publishing Ltd ("ZDP"). ZOOtech Ltd ("ZOOtech") ZOOtech focuses on R&D and licensing of DVD-EXTRA, the Group's highly originaldevelopment software capable of creating complex interactive content forstandard DVD players. The strategy for ZOOtech is simple; to create the industrystandard tool for the production of interactive DVD content and drive revenuesthrough licensing worldwide in a combination of up front fees and royalties. ZOO Digital Publishing Ltd ("ZDP") ZDP focuses on the publishing and distribution of interactive entertainmentproducts across multiple platforms such as interactive DVD, PS2, Xbox, GBA andPC. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange