Interactive TV games developer, Zodiac Gaming, has launched a wholly owned subsidiary, Zodiac Branded Gaming (ZBG), which will be tasked with developing and distributing branded games for the digital set-top box. ZBG has already succeeded in landing its first brand partnership--a three-year licensing agreement with Speed Racer Enterprises that gives it exclusive rights to design, build, and distribute digital set-top games based on the Speed Racer brand: according to Zodiac, ZBG will launch its first Speed Racer-branded ITV game in the next few months. Zodiac also claims that ZBG is in discussions with several other high-profile brands and that it expects to announce a series of additional partnerships in the near future.
Zodiac Gaming's CEO, Alex Libkind, will also serve as ZBG's CEO; Paul Niehaus, Zodiac's EVP of business development, has been named ZBG's president, and will assume day-to-day control of the operation, while retaining his position at Zodiac: "More than 40 million homes in the US already have digital set-top boxes, but only a fraction of consumers are even aware of their set-top boxes' gaming capabilities," Niehaus said in a prepared statement. "By partnering with instantly recognized brands, we hope to accelerate awareness of set-top box gaming."
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