★ GAMES ★ EDITEURS ★ THE DARLINGS SET UP INDEPENDENT LABEL (POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY) ★ |
| The Darlings set up independent label (Popular Computing Weekly) | Games Editeurs |
THIS week sees the announcement of a new budget software label which aims to release 50 titles by Christmas and capture a 10% overall market share of this time next year. Named Code Masters, the label has a strong budget background, headed by Jim Daling, once MD of Al Products, the company that was responsible for the writing of all Mastertronic titles until the end of last year. Spearheading the programming team are his two sons , Richard and David Darling. Their most recent releases have included The Last V8, which launched Mastertronic's MAD range, and Master of Magic, in careers that have sold well over a million games to date.
All Codemasters product is planned to retail at £1.99, right in Mastertronic's established territory, although Jim Darling anticipates that his sales would largely stem from an overall increase in budget sales (increasing from the present 40% to around 60%) rather than cutting into the existing budget market, even though the games will be sold through similar channels. ‘We're not having a go at Mastertronic.” he emphasised "We'll be producing good quality product by programmers with a reputation." More details on Code Masters' products in Software Hotlines. |
