Astro Corporation of Taiwan and UK game developer JPM used IGE to announce a joint venture.
The two companies have been working together to develop games for the UK category B3 market. "We have agreed to move forward together as a development team," said Astro’s Simon Herbert. "JPM has been in business for a long time and has an excellent reputation all over the world.
"We spent three months looking at what we could achieve together and came up with a product that is being launched here at the show. We worked to our strengths; we both have very good game development teams."
The result was the introduction of three B3 games at IGE. "This is a niche area in which we both saw opportunities," said Herbert. "Next we will look at categories C and B4 and will target the rest of Europe." Astro Corporation is already having great success in the Italian market.
"We have come a long way together in a short space of time. JPM has respect and a huge back catalogue and we bring a fresh perspective to the market, coming up with new angles."
JPM’s Simon McCarthy told InterGaming: "The games are being manufactured in Taiwan but in close co-operation with our development team." The games were due to go out on test in the UK last month.
"We have tried to introduce the JPM style into a video base," added Herbert. "It’s a good model; the games are not intimidating at all, so will attract new players. They are also good value for money and have more features than other games on the market. They are very interactive and are geared to build up player loyalty."
Astro has the capacity for high volume production but with a lower cost base. "The UK simply needs a better quality product," said Herbert. "We think the market has been neglected because of the cost of product in the past."
