MTV, Jerry Bruckheimer Launch Game Studio

Viacom's MTV Networks and mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer have announced a deal to create a new video game studio.

Viacom’s MTV Networks and well-known television and movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI,Armageddon,Top Gun, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, etc.) have inked a deal to launch a new video game development studio. The new units will operate with the existing MTV Games operation and work on developing new games and intellectual property that, of course, can be promoted and leveraged across the entire MTV broadcast and digital platforms.

“Video games represent a new and innovative medium for what we’ve always tried to do, which is to tell great stories,” said Bruckheimer in a statement. “But this medium is unique in that it gives the player control over how those stories unfold. I look forward to working with MTV Games to create new original game stories, always looking for ways to innovate the medium.”

The move comes after MTV Games set aside $500 million earlier this year to invest in video game development. Part of the goal with MTV Games’s partnership with Bruckheimer is to develop new properties, rather than relying on licensing existing franchises and titles (such as Hollywood movies). LInking video games to movies rarely meets with critical or financial success; MTV Games’ goal is to focus on new forms of interactive storytelling in digital media, although the company anticipates some of the properties could migrate to TV, film, or other media.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.