Cities XL wishes its online community a happy first birthday
posted:
10/15/2008 10:24:00 PM
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Cities XL
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of its online community's inception, Cities XL put out a brief State of the Union saying that things are still on track for an early 2009 release. Developer Monte Cristo is boasting the creation of (quite possibly) the largest online focus group ever, as they report over the course of the year having 275,000 "participations" in various contests and community-participation events. Also, earlier this year, the independently-developed Cities XL team had secured 4.5 million Euros (approximately $7 million U.S.). All of which is great news in an industry that sees jobs, branches, and entire projects unplug due to lack of confidence and/or funding. (See EA's Tiberium for a recent example.)
CITIES XL – an Amazing Year in Community and Game Development
Expansive community contributes to game's design, while investors express confidence with continued funding
PARIS, France. October 15, 2008 - It’s been a great year for CITIES XL™, the next-generation city-builder from Monte Cristo. With this week marking the first anniversary of the official Web site and forum community at www.citiesxl.com, Monte Cristo has built what could be the largest online focus group ever with over 275,000 participations. Community members have contributed feedback to the game’s design, along with participating in various contests, such as the “Point, Shoot – Win!” photography contest which offered fans the chance to have their homes featured in the final game.
CITIES XL™ is going to be independently developed and published by Monte Cristo. The game will feature a mix of social networking, virtual worlds, economics and city building to offer a fantastic experience both on- and offline. To fund additional development, which is currently taking place in the company’s Paris and Kiev studios, Monte Cristo received an supplementary EUR 4.5 million (approx. $7 million U.S.) from Arts Alliance, 360 degrees Capital Partners and Innoven Partenaires earlier this year.
“We are very excited to announce the one-year ‘birthday’ of the CITIES XL community,” said Philippe da Silva, Internet Director at Monte Cristo. “Our community is dedicated to helping us make the most incredible game possible, and with the significant financial investment from our business partners, along with an incredibly positive response from the media, we are sure that CITIES XL will be an outstanding social and entertainment experience.”
In development by Monte Cristo Games, CITIES XL™ expands upon all the features that make city builders fun and interesting, while also letting players take their game online, as they interact with others in a persistent online environment. Realism will be pushed to the limit with cities that are bigger, more realistic and more sophisticated than ever before.
For more information about CITIES XL™, which will ship in the first half of 2009, please visit www.citiesxl.com.
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About Monte Cristo Games: Created in 1995 Monte Cristo is a leading game production company with over a decade of experience, having successfully published 30 games worldwide. Backed by leading international venture capitalists, we are currently focusing a team of over 80 people on the development of CITIES XL™ which merges video gaming with social networking and virtual worlds.
