1C, Atari Announce U.S. Co-Publishing Deal

Russian publisher 1C Company has announced a new distribution and co-publishing deal with Atari to bring its 2007 lineup of some 10 RPG, RTS, and first-person shooter games directly to the U.S. for the first time. Perhaps best known in the West for last year's release of the critically acclaimed Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators on Cinemaware's independent games imprint Cinemaware Marquee, 1C has announced that it will also be establishing a U.S. office to handle its publishing arm from here on out. Along with the announcement, 1C Company has announced 10 games it plans to publish over the coming year, including a diverse range of RTS, RPG, sim, and first person shooter titles. These include Digital Spray Studios and Mandel ArtPlains' You Are Empty, an alternative history first person title taking place in late 50s Soviet Russia, and Action Forms' Cryostasis (pictured), a first person shooter aboard an ice-breaker ship with a feature allowing players to travel into past memories of other characters to affect the present. Its action lineup also includes Haggard Games' Death To Spies, a third person stealth game featuring a WWII Soviet Army counterintelligence officer taking part in various missions behind enemy lines including stealing important documents, eliminating different enemy officers or high-ranking officials, kidnapping and sabotage. The lineup also includes Unicorn Games' Middle Ages-era RTS XIII Century: Death or Glory, 1C's own WWII-era RTS Theatre of War, Katauri Interactive's real-time/turn-based fantasy strategy RPG King’s Bounty: The Legend, Ino-Co's turn based Fantasy Wars, and SkyFallen Entertainment's 3rd person RPG Dawn of Magic. Finally, 1C will also be bringing CrioLand's 27th-century space sim/RPG The Tomorrow War, and SoftLab-NSK's 'trucker's life sim' Rig’n’Roll to North America in 2007. Said 1C international sales director Nikolay Baryshnikov, "We have already opened several new offices including 1C UK and 1C Asia-Pacific and look forward to strengthening our position in the US. Together with our distribution partner Atari we would like to introduce our games to the American audience and offer an innovative approach to all the existing genres."