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Brash Entertainment To Debut As New Publisher
by David Jenkins, Staff [PC, Console/PC, Mobile Phone, Mobile Console]
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March 26, 2007
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Thomas Tull, the executive producer of current cinema hit 300, has announced that he is near to closing a $150 million round of private equity funding to create a new video game publisher start-up headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Atlanta.
According to an Atlanta Business Journal article, the company, to be named Brash Entertainment, will apparently focus on developing games licensed from multiple media - with movie licenses a particular specialty.
The company, which is in the process of closing multiple unspecified deals to license major Hollywood movies for game form, has given itself the ambitious target of producing and publishing sixty to one hundred games over the next five years.
The initial reports indicate that the first potential game for the company is a PC title based on 300. Currently, the only video game adaptation of the movie is a PSP exclusive subtitled March to Glory – developed by Collision Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive.
Though the Atlanta Business Journal article specifically mentions dotcom entrepreneur Bert Ellis as another key player in the deal, sources have indicated to Gamasutra that Massive co-founders Mitch Davis and Nicholas Longano are some of the top game industry execs involved in Brash. Davis and Longano left Microsoft in January 2007 after that company's 2006 acquisition of the major in-game ad firm.
Actual development for the majority of the Brash Entertainment titles will be developed by third-party developers around the world, although Atlanta will be the base for any development work carried out in the U.S. The equity funding deal is expected to be closed next month, with further announcements to follow.
[UPDATE: Gamasutra has received a statement from Brash Entertainment which reads as follows:
"Recent reports in the media contain a number of inaccuracies or mis-statements that Brash Entertainment would like to clarify. There has been no official “announcement” by Brash Entertainment or any of the officials at the company.
First, the company management consists of Mitch Davis, Chairman and CEO, and Nicholas Longano, President and COO, two game industry veterans with deep experience in introducing innovations that have changed the face of game entertainment and commerce. Both worked at Massive Incorporated and Longano was previously an executive at Vivendi-Universal.
Some of the news reports have stated that Brash is currently working to close an initial funding round of $150 million. The company is in the final stages of closing an amount which is significantly larger than this.
The company has already reached an agreement with Warner Brothers, which will be the official distribution channel for all gaming titles produced by Brash. The number and names of titles will be disclosed at the appropriate time.
Thomas Tull is an investor and co-founder of Brash Entertainment. He sits on the board of directors, but does not have day-to-day responsibilities at the company."]
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