Aniboom and I-play Partner to Create Animated Series Based on Popular Casual Games for Distribution Across Mobile, Online and Television Platforms

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aniboom (aniboom.com), the premiere independent animation network, and Oberon Media’s publishing division, I-play, the leading multi-platform casual games publisher, have partnered to create animated serial content for distribution across all possible platforms based on the game publisher’s extensive roster of top casual games. The first series under development through the partnership is based on I-play’s popular game, “Turbo Subs,” which has achieved millions of downloads since it debuted at the beginning of 2008 as the sequel to the international casual game hit, “Turbo Pizza.”

“Turbo Subs” finds “Turbo Pizza” characters Rebecca and Robert continuing their pursuit of building the greatest restaurant franchise in town, except now they find themselves in the much bigger town of New York City. I-play will provide Aniboom with all raw material including characters, game story and all related background, and the series will then be produced by Aniboom for mobile, online and television platforms by teaming up with animators from the network’s global community of independent creators it connects with through Aniboom.com. Aniboom has brought in Chris Brown to serve as the writer of the Turbo Subs series. Brown has written for the hit television series “Friends” including the critically-acclaimed Year One season finale, “The One Where Rachel Finds Out,” and for popular animated series such as “What’s New, Scooby Doo?” and “Johnny Test.” I-play and Aniboom will collaborate closely on both the creation and the distribution of the new animated series.

“Aniboom’s partnership with Oberon demonstrates our commitment to seeking out the best animation-ready properties, like the characters and stories already much loved by game players around the world, and turning them into animations and cartoons that can drive revenue for Aniboom, for our content partners and for our creators community through a variety of channels—whether it be online, on cellular phones or on TV,” said Uri Shinar, founder and president of Aniboom. “‘Turbo Subs’ is going to bring fan favorite characters to life for the gamers who already know them and for new viewers everywhere, extending the reach of the franchise and offering audiences fantastic new ‘Turbo’ experiences.”

The news of the partnership between Aniboom and I-play complements the recent news of Aniboom’s partnerships with six additional mobile entertainment distributors, expanding Aniboom’s mobile reach by 200 million mobile users, and with five additional online video platforms expanding Aniboom’s online reach by 140 million viewers.

“Character development and great stories are an important part of our approach to game development, so we knew how important it was to find a great partner to translate them into an animated series,” said Don Ryan, senior vice president of publishing for Oberon Media. “Aniboom’s community of independent creators allows us to connect with the best animators and writers across the globe, and to get our content out to existing and new fans wherever they want to enjoy it through Aniboom’s array of cross-platform partnerships.”

Aniboom aims to meet the exploding demand for state-of-the-art animation in primetime television and feature films, digital gaming, web and mobile broadband platforms at an unprecedented cost-efficiency by creating a new production and distribution pipeline. This pipeline identifies and mobilizes the thousands of professional independent animators all over the world with the talent, the passion, and the same toolsets utilized by the large animation studios – but no meaningful access to the markets that need them. Aniboom’s Creators Studio allows animators of all levels to pitch, produce and monetize high-quality original animated content spanning a variety of genres for worldwide channels of distribution, all year round. Animators are able to earn money based on the popularity of their creation within the Aniboom distribution network, including Aniboom.com and branded areas on partners’ distribution platforms.

About I-play

I-play is the world’s leading multi-platform casual games publisher. With strong franchises and massive distribution across PC, Mobile, and Interactive TV, I-play content reaches global consumers across the three most popular entertainment screens, and delivers fun, entertaining, accessible content to casual gamers of all ages. I-play's PC publishing (formerly known as Oberon Games) is based in Seattle and created the hit Dream Day Series, as well as the first casual games for legendary mystery author Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile and Peril at End house. I-play's mobile division has delivered some of the biggest selling franchises in the mobile space, including the world’s #1 best-selling racing franchise The Fast & the Furious series, based on the blockbuster movies. I-play’s interactive TV group (formerly PixelPlay) creates and distributes games featuring many top brands including Centipede™, Missile Command®, Asteroids™, Monopoly®, Scrabble®, Boggle®, and Yahtzee™. Headquartered in New York City, with offices in Seattle, San Mateo, London, and Dunfermline, Scotland, I-play is the publishing division of Oberon Media, Inc.

About Oberon Media

Oberon Media, the world’s leading multi-platform casual games company, is the first company to deliver global, integrated casual-games solutions across online, mobile and interactive TV platforms, following its recent acquisitions of I-play and PixelPlay, respective leaders in the mobile games and iTV casual games markets. The Oberon Game Center platform is the industry standard and has been adopted by some of the world's largest corporations including Microsoft, Comcast, Verizon, Electronic Arts, MySpace, France Telecom and NHN. The platform combines casual-game content, merchandising and features to fulfill each partner's specific needs. Oberon Media's publishing arm works with the industry's best, award-winning game developers to produce the top-selling casual games, which can be played in more than a dozen languages across online, mobile, console and iTV platforms. Founded in 2003, Oberon Media is headquartered in New York with offices across North America, Europe and Asia, and is backed by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Oak Investment Partners and Lehman Brothers.

About Aniboom

Aniboom (www.aniboom.com) is a premier multi-platform animation network that teams up with untapped talent around the world, to create, produce and distribute compelling high quality animation brands at unusual speed and cost efficiencies to web, mobile, gaming and TV media industries worldwide.

At Aniboom.com, the company has brought together a vibrant community of world class animators and animation enthusiasts to create, watch and share a growing library of original independent cartoons and animations that crosses multiple genres and interests. Users can easily create and showcase their work using the site’s dynamic features including a robust DIY tool set called Animachines. Throughout the year Aniboom also engages its community with a variety of creative contests offering prizes of up to $50,000 each. The company is based in Israel with its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.