Fox Teams With TinyCo On 'Family Guy' Game
- by Mark Walsh @markfwal, December 10, 2013
Twentieth
Century Fox is teaming up with game developer TinyCo to release a mobile game based on the studio’s long-running animated hit series “Family Guy” early next year. The companies say the free-to-play game will feature an original story influenced by the show's catalog of 212 episodes, as well as current events. Without elaborating on details, the announcement noted: “Players will be able to adventure throughout Quahog, recruiting (and sometimes confronting) their favorite “Family Guy” characters along the way.”
"Over more than a decade on the air, "Family Guy" has built a world like no other, with some of the most beloved characters in entertainment today,” stated Rick Phillips, senior vice president at Fox Digital Entertainment. “This game will bring the best of the 'Family Guy’ experience to mobile gamers the world over."
To ensure that the game retains the sharply satirical humor of the show, San Francisco-based TinyCo is working with “Family Guy” writers to develop its story and dialogue. The announcement of the game, which will be launched on iOS and Android in the first quarter of 2014, comes on the heels of TinyCo landing $20 million in new funding last month.
The deal to create a “Family Guy” game may signal what TechCrunch called a new strategy. The emphasis is away from casual games to deeper game play and higher-budget titles in connection with the financing led by Pinnacle Ventures. If the game proves to be nearly as popular as the show, it would help TinyCo chart a new course.
“TinyCo impressed us with their platform expertise and, more importantly, with their passion and understanding of the brand,” said Phillips in an email. “With TinyCo, we felt we could partner with them to make a game that would be both true to the world of 'Family Guy’ and a great game experience in and of itself."
It could also prove a moneymaker for Fox. “The Simpsons: Tapped Out,” a mobile game from EA based on another Fox animated franchise, recently topped $100 million in total digital revenue. It has also been in the top 20 grossing games for the iPhone in the U.S. since its release in August 2012.
The "Simpsons" game, for example, allows for in-app purchases tied to game play including a “truckload of 300 donuts” for $19.99. The “Family Guy” game could offer similar virtual items for sale to enhance game play and generate revenue.
