Software firm soars in Angry Birds deal
A flourishing software firm in Staffordshire has secured an exclusive multi-million-pound deal to distribute the PC game tipped to top this year's Christmas sales chart.
Focus Multimedia, in Rugeley, has won sole UK rights for Angry Birds Star Wars and has also been chosen to circulate the franchise in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece and Cyprus. Bosses at the firm in Lea Hall Enterprise Park, Wheelhouse Road say the deal will allow them to take on extra staff to boost the company's 30-strong payroll.
Focus has been commissioned by game makers Rovio Entertainment and Lucasfilm. The game will hit the shelves on November 16 in time for the festive gift rush.
Launched as an addictive mobile phone app, Angry Birds games have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times. The eagerly-anticipated Angry Birds Star Wars version will see action moved to a galaxy far, far away, with characters based on Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo doing catapult-based battle with Darth Vader and the rest of the Empire.
Brand manager Alan Wild said today: "This is a very sizeable deal for us. There have been something like one billion downloads of Angry Birds globally and the Star Wars game is widely expected to be this year's Christmas number one.
"We are the sole distributor in the UK and have also got the contract for territories across the world."
Focus has also secured distribution rights for a PC version of Angry Birds spin-off Bad Piggies, which was going on sale today.
The Angry Birds deal could create a handful of new posts, he added.
