Miniclip eyes console publishing as next big venture

Mobile and browser game publisher Miniclip says it hopes console games will become a big part of its portfolio going forward. The firm is due to enter this market for the first time next month with the release of Saber Interactive’s MX Nitro, a follow-up to the Motocross Nitro browser game, which is set to launch on PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 14th.

Miniclip originally started out in 2001 as a free, browser-based gaming website before eventually branching out to publish mobile games on Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms. It now has over 200m active monthly users and in 2016, its mobile game portfolio reached 1bn downloads.

We’re going to be putting our all into [MX Nitro] and hoping we can achieve big things,” Miniclip CEO Rob Small told MCV.

We’re branching out into console with MX Nitro because we see it as a great opportunity to explore a new area of the industry and hopefully make a success out of it.

"The more great games we can make, and the more places that people can play them, the better. As for more console games, I would love for this to be a big part of our company going forward.”

Matthew Karch, founder and CEO of Saber Interactive added: We’ve lavished all the skill and polish we’ve practised on the triple-A titles we’ve developed for clients, like Halo Online and Quake Champions, on our own title, MX Nitro. We’re super-excited to be working with Miniclip again, and are looking forward to cementing our relationship with this game, which we hope will be the first of many successful, future collaborations.”