Lionsgate, the film studio behind successful franchises such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, is planning to enter the mobile and social gaming sector.
The studio recently hired Peter Levin – a Hollywood “digital deal maker” (an industry buzz word no doubt), and former CEO of Nerdist industries – to lead its entry into the lucrative gaming space.
“We’ve got a phenomenal library of content,” Levin told The Hollywood Reporter, citing The Hunger Games and Divergent. “Each property could be brought to life in the video game space.”
Despite Lionsgate having ventured in to the digital sphere in the past – including its purchase of a stake in the online video network Defy Media and a Youtube fitness channel known as BeFit – the studio has not, until now, made a big bet on mobile gaming.
The sector’s booming outlook – the mobile gaming industry is expected to balloon to $60 billion by 2017 – inevitably attracted the studio.
As Levin notes, combining Lionsgate’s intellectual properties with engaging and addictive games “could be a very potent combination if executed properly.”
Levin is no stranger to mobile gaming, having served as a board member at Finnish startup Next Games (which developed the mobile game version of The Walking Dead) and as an adviser to Angry Birds developer Rovio.
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