Leading videogame development and production company, Hyderabad based FXLabs Studios Pvt. Ltd. has announced that it has secured US$3 million in new funds from Hyderabad based Suresh Productions to facilitate the company’s expansion plans.
“Suresh Productions and its associated companies comprising the famous Ramanaidu Studios and Spirit Media bring a wealth of experience, strategic alliances, and valuable film-based intellectual property to the table.FXLabs in conjunction with its new partners plan to accelerate the company’s growth in both production capacity and product portfolio and will be aggressively pursuing new film-based opportunities to reach the growing India computer and video-games market. This is in addition to our current product development efforts which are being targeted for North American release as well as Europe and Asian markets.
” said Tony Garcia, CEO for FXLabs Studios Pvt. Ltd.
“FXLabs will be growing its production capacity internally and scaling up the number of simultaneous projects in development. Our goal is to establish FXLabs as a trusted brand that represents quality and value to consumers around the world. We will achieve these goals by creating best in class game products that blur the line between fantasy and reality” he added.
“Today FXLabs has about 85 employees in product development and our plan is to staff to 200 by the end of the year” he further added.
Suresh Productions MD and Spirit Media Director Suresh Daggubati said “We are excited to be joining forces with FXLabs in helping it realize it’s full potential in the global video-gaming market. We look forward to bringing a wide array of industry contacts and compelling properties to the table and helping the company grow!”
“FXLabs expertise in the exciting videogame industry makes them a natural partner to our group of companies” commented Rana Daggubati, Managing Director, Spirit Media. “The investment is now added to the many aspects of Spirit Media’s end to end media entertainment technology services and will bring in significant business opportunities for us in the domestic, global media and entertainment market.”
On being asked the question of Human resource crunch facing the industry, FX Labs Tony replied,”This is the single biggest challenge we are faced with today. What we are finding is that there is an enormous pool of talent available in India, but much of that talent is schooled in the business of making films. We are faced with the task of re-working those talents and training them in the discipline of game content creation. There is a big difference in creating 3D models for a movie that’s pre-rendered, and building the same 3D model that can run in real time for a game. To that end FXLabs is bringing talent and expertise from the United States to help in training our employees in these disciplines”
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers report on the global outlook for entertainment and media the video game market in the United States, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia/Pacific, Latin America, and Canada is expected to see an increase in revenue of $54.6 billion in 2009, growing at a 16.5 percent compound annual rate. Asia/Pacific, the largest market, at $10.1 billion in 2004, is projected to maintain its leadership, growing by 18.0 percent on a compound annual rate through 2009, reaching $23.1 billion.
FXLabs is already well into production of two hi end videogame products “Inferno” and “Archie’s Riverdale Run”.
Inferno, an action/horror game pits players against the denizens of the underworld as they make their way through an incredible array of visually stunning environments! Players fight a series of strange and other-worldly creatures, control up to four distinct characters, and are immersed in a compelling storyline and eerie soundtrack. Inferno is being developed at FXLabs production facility in Hyderabad and is scheduled for completion on the PC platform at the end of the year.
Archie’s Riverdale Run brings the world of Archie comics to life in full 3D for the very first time. Players can select from any number of their favorite Archie characters and explore the town of Riverdale, using a variety of vehicles and solving numerous puzzles and challenges. It’s madcap Arcade-Action that is sure to please Archie fans all over the world. The game will be available for both the PC and Xbox and is scheduled for completion in early 2007.