Having decided to concentrate less on the emerging genre of web-native interactive social drama, TV producer Endemol UK is creating a new online gaming division to exploit both its existing an third-party TV formats in the games world.
Endemol UK’s product and brand exploitation head Jurian Van de Meer is being named MD for Endemol Games, reporting to Endemol UK’s COO Lucas Church.
The company reckons its shows, which include Deal Or No Deal and Big Brother, “seamlessly cross over in to branded gaming”.
In truth, Endemol is not a stranger to gaming. A Deal Or No Deal title is already on the shelves, last year it deployed its 1 Vs 100 gameshow as an experimental games-TV crossover on Xbox live and there’s a Deal casual game on Facebook, too.
We’re seeing big opportunities open up for shows like Doctor Who and X Factor on Wii and beefier games consoles.
Endemol disbanded its dedicated digital unit recently when global digital media and new business head Adam Valkin and UK digital head Peter Cowley left.