Mobile game developer Gameloft has announced an exclusive, multi-year arrangement with Touchstone Television to develop, publish, and distribute mobile games based on the popular TV series Lost and Desperate Housewives.
The deal isn’t Gameloft’s first venture into mobile games based on TV series: the company just released a game based on Fox’s teen soap The O.C. featuring the likenesses of leading cast members and featuring locations and interactions from the show. New story events unfold each time the game is launched. Gameloft plans to work with the writers of both Lost and Desperate Housewives to keep the mobile games true to the franchise while introducing game elements and new story lines—between these three shows, Gameloft hits three major demographics (young audiences, mature female audiences, and sci-fi/gadget geeks) with games based on three top-rated shows.
However, the Gameloft games are not the first mobile franchises for Lost, and neither Gameloft game will feature the likenesses of series’ cast members. Instead, Lost producers are creating their own “mobisodes,” while game publisher Ubisoft is developing Lost-based games for handhelds and console systems. And, not to be left out, Buena Vista Games plans to release a game based on Desperate Housewives in the latter half of 2006 which will feature the likenesses of all the major cast members.
Gameloft’s Lost and Desperate Housewives games are currently scheduled for release in early 2007.
