June 3, 2010

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, today announced Iguana Entertainment as its newest member.

Iguana Entertainment is a video games development studio based in Middlebrough, in the north east of England. The company has a rich heritage of games development stretching back to 1983, when founders Darren and Jason Falcus started their first game studio Optimus Software Ltd. Since then, the Falcus brothers have run a number of successful studios, including Iguana UK, Acclaim Studios Teesside, and Atomic Planet Entertainment. Iguana Entertainment was formed in 2009 to provide quality video game and software solutions.

Iguana Entertainment has recently moved into social gaming and self-publishing, most notably with the highly successful ‘The Crazies’ for Facebook, a tower defence game based around a recent zombie film of the same name. The game was launch in February 2010 and registered over 300,000 users within the first month.

Darren Falcus, Managing Director at Iguana Entertainment explains the company’s new focus: “At Iguana Entertainment we recognise the opportunities that now exist for developers to own their own IP, control distribution and connect directly with consumers. The company is adapting from a purely work-for-hire studio with additional focus on the self-publishing model working on platforms such as Facebook, iPhone and mobile.

Falcus also explains the company’s reasons for joining TIGA: “I have been in the games business for a long time and throughout that time I have seen the benefit of UK developers working together to address issues and challenges on and industry level. I am a strong supporter of TIGA and fully back their work, including the campaign to achieve Games Tax Relief for UK developers.”

Dr. Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO adds: “Darren and his team have a vast amount of experience in the industry and are extremely well placed to capitalise on the new opportunities that exist with digital distribution and self-publishing. At TIGA we are committed to helping developers navigate the challenges of self-publishing by offering access to expert consultancy, events and best practice sharing, in this way we hope to support Iguana Entertainment wherever possible.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

About TIGA:

TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. The majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership.

TIGA's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business. We focus on three sets of activities: political representation, generating media coverage and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members. This means that TIGA members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.

For further information, please contact Eva Field, TIGA PR Manager on: 07814 039 983, or email eva@tiga.org.