Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Rainbow And Tsumanga Studios Announce Plans To Launch "Winx Club" Virtual World In Autumn 2013; Rainbow To Release First Winx App In Spring 2013

Licensing news website Licensing.biz is reporting in the following news article that Rainbow S.r.l., the company which owns the "Winx Club" media franchise, has announced a partnership with Scotland-based games developer and publisher Tsumanga Studios to design, develop and launch a brand new online game based on Rainbow's hit girls brand "Winx Club". The interactive online 'Magix' world will target girls aged seven to ten years old and will be free to play, with subscriptions for 'premium content and extended gameplay' available. Rainbow and Tsumanga plan to launch their "Winx Club" virtual world during Autumn/Fall 2013, and will initially be playable in English, Italian, Russian and French languages. Rainbow has also announced plans to release their first "Winx Club" app during Spring 2013:
Winx Club virtual world in the works

Tsumanga Studios working with Rainbow to design free-to-play online game.

An online virtual world based on Rainbow's hit girls brand Winx Club is in development.

Tsumanga Studios is working with brand owner Rainbow to produce the online game, which will be available on smartphones, tablets and PC/Mac web browsers.

The interactive online 'Magix' world will target girls aged seven to ten years old. It will be free to play, with subscriptions for 'premium content and extended gameplay' available.

The first Winx app is set to launch in spring 2013, before the full virtual world goes live in autumn 2013. It will initially be playable in English, Italian, Russian and French languages.

"The digital games represent a strategic new media for Winx Club, that will complete its well established multimedia platform of CP applications," said Iginio Straffi, Rainbow’s Chairman and CEO.

“We’re very excited to start this new collaboration with Tsumanga Studios. Winx has all the potential assets to become a digital game success.”

Graeme Harvey, founder and CEO of Tsumanga Studios, added: "We're very excited to be working with Rainbow on project with the popularity and potential of Winx Club."

Girls play more online games than boys. In the US market, over 50 per cent of the 9.3 million tween girls play online games. 60 per cent of girls under the age of 12 own a mobile phone.

The original animated Winx Club TV series - now in its fifth season with a total of 130 episodes available - has spawned branded products including feature films, DVDs, toys, clothing, books and video games.

Tags: rainbow, tsumanga studios, winx club