Slitherine Group acquires Shenandoah Studio!

[spelk]

Slitherine Press Announcement

For Immediate Release



For inquiries, please contact:
Olivier Georges
press@slitherine.co.uk





Slitherine Group acquires Shenandoah Studio

Fine makers of strategy games to continue evolution of portable wargaming



Epsom, UK – September 04 2014.

The Slitherine Group announces that it is partnering with Shenandoah Studio to ensure that their innovative titles have the benefit of multi-channel distribution, backed by the development resources needed to achieve their full potential. Shenandoah Studio, the development house behind iPad successes such as Battle of the Bulge and Drive on Moscow, is the winner of many awards. The US-based developer was a breath of fresh air, bringing innovation to the strategy genre on iOS thanks to a clever, streamlined game design and a state-of-the-art game engine.

"As Shenandoah has grown, the needs of supporting, upgrading, and distributing our current titles imposed ever-increasing burdens on our ability to move ahead with the new material our customers want", said Eric Lee Smith, founder and CEO of Shenandoah. "Slitherine has the scale and reach to ensure that Shenandoah moves ahead productively and delivers exciting new games for our audience to enjoy".

The Slitherine Group adds a key player to its already impressive roster of brands, to focus especially on bringing strategy games to a wider audience.

"Our continued efforts to expand the wargames and strategy games audience and to attract new players through innovative game play and new platforms, external licenses and internal franchises are testament to the consistency of our mission statement that we started with fifteen years ago", said JD McNeil Chairman of the Slitherine Group. "We are looking forward to partnering with Shenandoah's founders to amplify this vision to conquer new ground and expand the boundaries of strategy gaming even further".

All Shenandoah's previously released games will be added to the Slitherine Group's stores across the web. New projects that were already under development will also be joining the group's production schedule, with special attention given to Gettysburg: The Tide Turns, a project designed by Eric Lee Smith that was successfully funded on Kickstarter in August last year.

"We are looking forward to working with Eric to bring this game to completion and releasing it as a key part of our future lineup", said Iain McNeil, Development Director at Slitherine. "Eric's design vision is a key asset we want to leverage on in order to make sure Gettysburg is the game that all Kickstarter backers were looking for".



Slitherine is part of the Slitherine Group



About the Slitherine Group

The Slitherine Group is the world's leading producer and publisher of digital wargames and strategy games. Under the Slitherine (www.slitherine.com), Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) and Ageod (www.ageod.com) brands it has published literally hundreds of games, with many award-winning titles in its portfolio and spanning all digital platforms, from home consoles to modern Smartphone's and Tablets. Slitherine is also involved with book publishing, board gaming and works with a wide array of key licensing partners, such as HISTORY®, MILITARY HISTORY®, Games Workshop®, Horrible Histories™, Showtime, BBC, Osprey, Scholastic, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises and many others to deliver the best blend of historical accuracy in an exciting and entertaining way. Together the Group companies form the world's largest organization specializing in this important and vibrant niche. The Slitherine Group's mission over the coming years is to lead the way in innovation and growth in an ever expanding segment of the entertainment industry.

[Barthheart]

Interesting..... I wonder if it will change the look/feel of the Shenandoah games..... hope not.....

[tgb]

I hope this means we will finally see Android versions of their games.

[panzerde]

Developer of in-depth, AI heavy PC games leaves, developer of yet more iOS games acquired.

[JC______]

Developer of in-depth, AI heavy PC games leaves, developer of yet more iOS games acquired.

Bullseye!  ;)

[MikeGER]

I hope this means we will finally see Android versions of their games.

last time (2013) i discussed it with Slitherine the word was
Android OS is too scattered in Versions and hardware (a game not working for one customer who bought it on his personal device will be blamed on publisher's title/quality in general), so development is painfull, more expensive, and there is piracy too



well, Android device distribution (sold units) is growing since and is about 80% (in Germany)
(read it like: if 5 person bought a smartphone last month, 1 picked an IPhone 4 some Android OS phone)

Android version distribution worldwide by Playstore sales week 8/6-8/12
Kitkat (4.4)                              20.9%
Jelly Bean  (4.1 -4.3)                54.2%
Ice Cream Sandwhich (4.0.x)    10.6%
Gingerbread  (2.3x)                 13.6%

so Slitherine may will react to the market...

The very next big thing for the playing masses will be finally good working VR glasses like Oculus Rift and competetors
(its announced for < 400$) ...let see how this will change (war)gaming at a whole ...and later down to our niche 

(i think there will be VR shemes first - like those virtual movie-theaters-software... so Flashpoint Campaign RS on OR you will walk into a M577 or a tend HQ and play on a screen 'inside' the vehicle ...and may give orders with a voice command)

[GDS_Starfury]

I just dont see the utility of using Rift gear for hex based wargames.
its like pulling out the french tickler for your chubby side chick.

[TacticalWargames]

Developer of in-depth, AI heavy PC games leaves, developer of yet more iOS games acquired.

In my eyes losing Panther is a big blow as really that is their No1 unique, ground breaking wargame.It also felt CO was always last in queue when patches had been sent to them for upload where as Grigsby's games or Lordz games looked well supported by Slitherine in comparison.

Hopefully Panther are moving on to a publisher who will make the series their main priority and have more resources on hand for Dave.

[MikeGER]

I just don't see the utility of using Rift gear for hex based wargames.

i thought the same until i saw this video about 'themes' for just a 10$ movieplayer   (which may replaces a Plasma or a Projector if people don't want to watch in a group, or if someone likes to blind out local shitty reality run down little flat, with nagging wife, screaming kids, n such...    )

so you can either play the hexgame in a Command Center, or laid out on a super size table in a "virtual man cave"

i guess a M577 would be cool , ...later add the reaction to events in the game to the theme, so if you shift HQ (which is in the FC:RS game) and leave the vehicle for a pause  (or just look to the open ramp) the surroundings has changed, weather and nightcycle of course too...  imagine when your HQ gets a near miss airstrike ;-) 

speaking about Panther's CO the map is laid on a big table in a WWII-style HQ  ...maybe in the future there may be games where you can even leave the HQ and fly over the map with a Fiseler Storch STOL to check on the landscape and frontline while the (PBEM)turn of your opponent is played back...

and  COMANO just sitting in a fitting environment for immersion 

...well, that are not reasons to get a Rift, but most ppl will have one for movies and games like Skyrim, simulation of all kind, anyway  when it becomes as casual as a tablet today

[RyanE]

Developer of in-depth, AI heavy PC games leaves, developer of yet more iOS games acquired.

In my eyes losing Panther is a big blow as really that is their No1 unique, ground breaking wargame.It also felt CO was always last in queue when patches had been sent to them for upload where as Grigsby's games or Lordz games looked well supported by Slitherine in comparison.

Hopefully Panther are moving on to a publisher who will make the series their main priority and have more resources on hand for Dave.

I don't agree with that.  The Command guys are putting out patches and beta patch builds constantly under Matrix.  They are no bigger and the program is just as complex.  Matrix doesn't seem to be a factor there.  I think its more about how developers operate themselves and interact with Matrix.  I think it comes down to organization.  It might well be that Matrix has built some bureaucratic monster for supporting developers, but some seem to have figured out how to make it work.

Let's not forget it was only a few years ago that Panther left BFC and moved to Matrix.  Maybe they won't be happy until they self-publish.