Japanese publisher DeNA announced today that they will publish 22Cans’ next game, Godus, on Android and iOS devices.
Godus is a god game, and the spiritual successor to 22cans lead Peter Molyneux’s 1989 award winning game Populous. Last year 22cans started a campaign on Kickstarter for the funding of the game asking for £450,000 (about $685,753). The Kickstarter claims that “GODUS blends the power, growth and scope of Populous with the detailed construction and multiplayer excitement of Dungeon Keeper and the intuitive interface and technical innovation of Black & White.” The campaign was successful, closing at £526,563 (about $802,849).
Godus is being released on Windows PC, Mac, and Mobile OS. DeNA is distributing and marketing the mobile version, the game utilizing DeNA’s Mobage social games service in Western Territories, Japan and Korea.
DeNA West CEO Clive Downie told Polygon that Peter Molyneux approached DeNA and pitched the idea of evolving the god game genre with Godus, and utilizing DeNA’s live operations expertise to the game.
“We looked into it some more and we realized that we would be a really powerful combination: taking our expertise in live operations, and then partnering that with [Molyneux] rejuvenating and innovating the god game genre,” Downie explained. “What’s appealing about Godus is the emersion and the delight I think it can bring to mobile consumers. When we saw Godus we realized there’s just magic there that can bring — I’d like to think — hundreds of millions of people together around this notion of creating their own specific world and then leading the followers in those worlds, and co-operating with or even battling against different worlds.”
(via Polygon)