Gameshastra, Freeze Tag Partner For Etch A Sketch Game

India based game service provider Gameshastra has announced that it has signed an agreement with California based casual developer Freeze Tag to create a new PC, web, and Mac game based on Ohio Art's classic Etch A Sketch toy, with possible Xbox Live Arcade and Wii versions to come. In addition to its console, handheld, mobile and online QA outsourcings services, Gameshastra also provides art, animation and development services, an area it recently expanded with the hiring of former FUN Technologies CTO Bjorn Book Larsson as its new CTO and VP of game development. Though no details were provided on the Etch A Sketch title, Gameshastra CEO Prakash Ahuja praised the "great vision" of Freeze Tag and added that the publisher has "chosen some very exciting and unique licenses that we hope to develop jointly under this partnership." Said Freeze Tag CEO Craig Holland, "We have worked with many offshore developers, and Game Shastra is the first company that has truly 'exported' US game development expertise and management to its offshore operation, while still maintaining a US onshore staff in key developer roles. Gameshastra’s talented and experienced management team and competitive pricing were attractive features, but the main reason we picked Gameshastra to develop our high-value licenses was simply the opportunity to work with a really great game development team."