Today Ubisoft announced a publishing deal with Ironstone Partners to bring the highly successful Top Trumps brand to the video gaming market in March 2007.
Top Trumps, from Winning Moves, is a card-based game which gained popularity in the 1970's and 80's and combines luck, strategy and subject knowledge in a game-concept that has hooked children for several generations. Packs start from £2.49 retail and sales in the UK hit £18 Million last year. The brand has enjoyed many years of success with a strong licensing programme which includes brands such as Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter and recently, Doctor Who and is featured in over 10,000 retail outlets in the UK.
The partnership with Ubisoft ensures that Top Trumps will receive optimal sales, marketing and distribution support when the first titles come to market in quarter one, 2007. Ironstone will develop games for the Sony PlayStation 2 , Nintendo DS and PC gaming platforms and will initially feature brand new proprietary Top Trumps characters.
Rob Cooper UK managing director at Ubisoft said "Top Trumps has wonderful brand heritage and is a mainstay in the toy sector. We're delighted to team up with Ironstone on this range and are looking-forward to strong sales".
Paul Gouge managing director at Ironstone commented, "Ubisoft are a major success story in the video game market and their track record and experience in this sector are key to maximising the success of our Top Trumps licensed video games. We're delighted to partner with them for this key launch."