Publisher Empire Interactive has reached an agreement with American Mensa, obtaining the exclusive rights to develop and publish video games based on the Mensa license in the United States. The deal extends to console, handheld, PC, and Mac gaming adaptations of the license.
Mensa is a non-profit organization open to anyone who scores at or above the 98th percentile on a strict, standardized intelligence test. American Mensa has more than 56,000 members in the United States, and more than 110,000 members worldwide.
The deal is the first such agreement Mensa has established with a video game company. No announcement has yet been made about what kind of content will be featured in Empire's upcoming Mensa games, though they will likely involve Mensa-like testing and brain training elements.
"American Mensa is very selective about the companies we partner with, so we are especially pleased to have this new relationship with Empire Interactive," said Dr. John Sheehan, Development Officer of American Mensa. "One of Mensa's primary goals is to foster intelligence, and we are confident that with Empire's unquestioned reputation for excellence, we will move closer to achieving that goal."
Empire has also signed a similar development and publishing deal with British Mensa. No release date for Empire's Mensa-licensed titles has been announced.
If the video games are anything like their books and puzzle games, then we will have some pretty boring games. I can see some success on the DS, but what would be sweet would be to incorporate those mind-benders into a more entertaining format with great art direction and new gameplay mechanics. Interesting news either way.
