Breakthrough looks forward to revenue opportunity from game development

The console game train continues to roll among new media producers as Breakthrough New Media Inc. has won funding to develop a new property - Atomic Betty. On December 16, Telefilm Canada announced that the company would receive prototype funding to develop the game for the Playstation 2 platform. Breakthrough manager of new media Dorothy Vreeker tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that this is the first time the shop has tried a console game but that the potential payoff could be many times that of a web site that might have complemented a television property until just recently. Breakthrough is working with Montreal-based DC Studios on the project, the same firm with which it worked to create the online game corollary to its Kenny vs. Spenny television show. While other new media producers are bringing games expertise in-house to develop projects - such as Trapeze Media with its new David Cronenberg prototype (CNM, Jan. 26/04) - Breakthrough has opted to put development in the hands of experienced experts. "Basically, Breakthrough New Media is an interactive arm for our television production company. And we do do in-house work. But we’re not games developers. We’re not going to become game developers. We work very, very closely with game developers and we give them story ideas and we do approve everything that we pass on the content and they totally respect the fact that we know the television property better than they do. They take complete direction from us in that way. But as far as coming up with the actual gameplay, they’re experts in that. We’re not. That’s their expertise - that’s what we pay them to come up with." The game itself will tie into the Atomic Betty television show, which is confirmed as being picked up by the Cartoon Network in the United States, the U.K., Asia and Italy, as well as on Teletoon in Canada and France. Other large deals are in the works. The show revolves around the main character, Atomic Betty, who is, according to Vreeker, the "defender of the cosmos" as well as being an average school kid. It was the central character’s gender that suggested to Breakthrough that a Playstation game would be a right fit as an interactive corollary to the show. She says there aren’t a lot of games for girls to play, despite the significant portion they make up of the game-playing community. Vreeker cites figures that show females make up 35% of console gamers and that 74% of girls who use computers play games online. With that many girls playing games, but little content for them to buy, the fit seemed natural in this case. "We look at all our properties and determine: would it be well-served with a web site? Would it be better served with a game? This screamed game - really a console game because what you can do with an online game is fairly limited. Your business model is much more robust if you have a console game because, obviously, the potential for generating revenue is huge. We’re working with DC Studios partly because they have such a good relationship with publishers. Once you have the prototype and game design document, they can shop it to a publisher who will basically bring the rest of the financing in place." The sales potential for the game will reach into each of the markets into which Breakthrough sells the television show, she adds. "It will help us with other projects coming down the road. One of the things for gaming - not just in children’s shows - but gaming can have an interesting impact on all kinds of different properties. Canadian Country is a six-part documentary series we’re doing on the Second World War for History Television, and I think gaming, even in that sort of situation, is something that would be really interesting for educational purposes in school…We do a lot of medical shows, as well, and I think there’s all kinds of educational models for gaming forms based around that. Just getting into the gaming market through our children’s properties…will open it up for all kinds of other interesting opportunities."

Breakthrough looks forward to revenue opportunity from game development

News | 02/06/2004 5:00 am EST

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