Slitherine Poised to Strike US

UK developer Slitherine Strategies is set to break into the U.S. market with backing from the History Channel. The company is branching out from its well established PC titles with plans to produce four DS games, but its making the Xbox360 a priority.

“The Xbox 360 market is our way into the US,” said marketing manager Marco Minoli, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at Game Connection last month.

“It’s becoming very mass market. I can’t say the same for Europe as apart from the UK the market for Xbox 360 is quiet, but it’s the right time for us to establish this brand on the next-gen consoles, and it’s more of an investment for us.

“The History Channel is huge in the US. Our big weakness at Slitherine has always been the US, we’ve never found a way into that market. We really need to tackle that market and the History Channel brand will help us achieve that,” he added.

Slitherine successfully released The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome on PSP and PlayStation 2 last year, but admits the games may have been overlooked without The History Channel name on board.

“Many big publishers have tried porting strategy games to consoles and it just doesn’t work,” commented Minoli. “Without the History Channel backing we wouldn’t have been able to try Great Battles of Rome on the PS2. It’s opened the door.”

Players can look forward to The History Channel Pocket History: Rome is due in the second quarter of 2008, with the Xbox 360 title The History Channel: Great Battles of the Middle Ages due in the third quarter.

I have a special interest in the Roman Empire particularly during the reign of the Caesars. I’m looking forward to seeing some good strategy games for consoles. I also hope the Middle Ages contains a healthy dose of the Crusades although I’d like to see a dedicated strategy game on any of them similar to the Total War series.

via GamesIndustry.biz