Merscom announced today at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle it is working jointly with Starz Media and Overture Films to develop and publish a casual game based on the upcoming feature film, Righteous Kill.
The film stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as two veteran New York City detectives who are on the trail of a vigilante serial killer. The movie's theatrical release is on September 12, 2008.
The Righteous Kill game is scheduled for release late summer and is a hidden objects game where the player takes the role of a rookie cop, newly assigned to a special division of the NYPD. This unit is dedicated to the pursuit and capture of vigilante killers. The game will consist of 15 levels and 16 environments. In addition, there will be multiple mini-games that move the player along in the story.
The game builds on Merscom's experience creating a successful commercial casual game based on a major media property. Merscom's joint production with Lifetime Networks, Blood Ties, was one of the most successful hidden object games of 2008. It successfully leveraged the Blood Ties television series into a game that was enjoyed not only by fans of the show but also the broader casual games market.
"Righteous Kill is a tremendous opportunity to create a game that will really appeal to the traditional casual gamer," explained Lloyd Melnick, Chief Customer Officer at Merscom, "but also opens up a whole new market for casual games. This movie is going to get huge exposure because Pacino and De Niro are beloved by audiences everywhere and we expect millions of people who have never heard of casual games or hidden objects to take notice. What we hope they'll find is they also love hidden object games."
"We're very excited about developing the Righteous Kill casual online game and believe we have a great game concept and the right partner in Merscom to build and bring it to market," said Marc DeBevoise , Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategy for Starz Media who is responsible for the digital distribution of Overture Films. "Launching the game just prior to the theatrical premier should help the game benefit from the strong marketing for the feature, and at the same time introduce gamers to this thrilling movie. We look forward to having this game add to the success of the franchise."