Irish firm to develop online Playboy game Sunday, May 10, 2009 By Ian Kehoe An Irish gaming firm backed by Enterprise Ireland is developing an online game based around the lives of Playboy models after signing a deal with Hugh Hefner’s company.
Jolt Online Gaming has acquired the rights for the game, called Playboy Manager, and plans to launch it in the coming months, according to Dylan Collins, founder and chief executive of Jolt. He said that the game allowed players to manage the careers of Playboy models.
‘‘It is the first time that Playboy has come into the online gaming space,” said Collins.
‘‘Our market is males aged 16 to 32.They like video games and they like women, and we are combining the two. It was not rocket science. There is a very strong business case behind this.”
Collins said he expected ‘‘hundreds of thousands’’ of people to register to play the game. The game is free, and Jolt generates revenues from selling extras and additional features.
Established last year, Jolt has three so-called ‘persistent browser games’ and more than two million registered customers. Unlike conventional games that are played on consoles, the browser games can be accessed on the internet at any time.
‘‘The online video game market is growing by 15 per cent a year. This year, it will be worth between $8 billion and $9 billion. Online games are the future of gaming,” said Collins, who sold his previous company, Demonware, to US firm Activision for $10 million in 2007.
Collins said that Jolt was developing two other games and was in talks to acquire a number of other online games. He said the company had already purchased rights to several games over the past year.
‘‘I like low-risk deals. We will either do deals with big brands such as Playboy and develop the games ourselves, or we will acquire solid, existing games,” he said.
Jolt is backed by Collins and a number of his former Demon ware investors. A number of private investors and Enterprise Ireland have also invested in the firm. To fund an expansion plan, Collins said the firm was looking at raising ‘‘strategic investment’’ over the coming year.
‘‘Obviously, money is tight, but good companies will always raise money. This is a good company. It has strong revenues and a good reputation,” he said.
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