Playboy forms video games label

Adult entertainment giant Playboy is to press ahead with plans to form a new digital video games label this year and has reached an agreement with German games specialist Bigpoint to back the service.

The publisher and developer will play a key part is the creation of games content for Playboy.com, with the first title to feature on the service being Poisonville. A full launch is expected by the end of the year.

The scale of the plans remains a bit of a mystery, though Playboy claims to have put significant” backing behind the project. It will be monetised through advertising, as well as a push onto social networking sites such as Facebook later down the line.

One of our core competencies involves using our brand to present quality content,” Playboy’s managing director of new digital ventures Paul Lee told PaidContent. Gaming is a growing, mainstream area and part of our plan is to extend Playboy’s brand into the mainstream.

We’re looking for quality developers and the time I spent looking at Bigpoint showed me that they fit the bill for what we needed to get started.

Previously, Playboy’s gaming interests included a few licensing deals and some editorial in the form of gaming reviews. But there was no clear, over-arching strategy in place. With Bigpoint, we’ve established a clear path in terms of where we want to go.”