DJ Group to start spinning games

The UK's game publishing landscape is undergoing a bit of a renovation with the formation of The DJ Group, a publishing and distribution label that includes Digital Jesters and Monte Cristo. The group is being formed with the help of a $5 million investment from Myriad Interactive.

"We've big plans for the DJ Group," said Myriad Interactive president Marco Landi. "We've already set up our infrastructure, and it's our intention that this new group will quickly grow through expansion and acquisition into a real major player."

The company plans to establish a series of publishing and distribution labels to get a variety of games out globally in the next year. The first of those games, Crazy Frog Racer, will become available in Europe for the PlayStation 2 and PC on December 9, followed by the family-friendly PC game Wild Earth early next year.

The DJ Group will publish games under a number of brands, similar to how Electronic Arts has its EA Sports, EA Games, and EA Big lines. The first few brands to be used by the company will be Digital Jesters (a general gaming label), Monte Cristo (maker of the seedy life sim 7 Sins as well as the dance rhythm game Fame Academy), and Turtle Games (a new label most likely to publish children's games).

The company is aiming for a rapid growth rate in the first year and plans to support that by expanding infrastructure, partnerships, joint ventures, and acquisitions. In the first year in the UK alone, the DJ Group is looking to provide more than 100 jobs for management staff, specialists, and developers.