KUALA LUMPUR, January 6 - The government will spend RM36 million to finance the sequel to the popular rally computer racing game Colin McRae: Dirt.
Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad (MDV), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finance Ministry, inked an agreement with Codemasters Studios Sdn Bhd for the development of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 over the next 16 months, in a bid to capitalise on the popularity of the prequel which sold over 1.3 million units worldwide.
The game, the seventh in the series of racing games named after the legendary Scot driver who passed away in a helicopter accident in 2007, is the second such agreement between the two parties, the first resulting in Racedriver GRID, another racing game launched last year at the cost of RM44 million.
Md Zubir Ansori Yahaya, managing director and chief executive officer of MDV said that the partnership with Codemasters Studios would nurture and develop local talents as the industry needed help during the current economic crisis
"We are not only looking at assisting the content industry but also the local market in terms of creating job opportunities, especially in the current time," added Zubir.
Maxime Villandre, general manager of Codemasters Studios Sdn Bhd, confirmed that the financial support would allow it to increase its staff to 100 by the end of the year. It currently employs 76 people after starting off with just 30 in 2006.
"DiRT 2 is one of our biggest projects after the success of GRID, which was Malaysia's first locally designed computer game," Villandre said.
He added that the knowledge and technology transfer from the joint-venture between Codemasters UK Ltd, Europe's largest independent developer and publisher of video games and Vision New Media Sdn Bhd, the only foreign operation for Codemasters UK, has seen Codemasters Studios progress from specialising in animation to include programming, a more advanced technique in game development.
MDV is a development facilitator for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and high-growth sectors under the Finance Ministry.
It was incorporated in 2002 to manage a RM1.6 billion soft loan from the Japanese government.
Since its inception, MDV has approved loans amounting to RM3.5 billion to more than 250 companies, mostly SMEs.
Having recently launched its RM1.5 billion Second Fund, which is domestically sourced and raised via Islamic medium term notes, MDV believes that the current economic climate will not deter its efforts to provide funding to more locally incorporated companies.
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
