BBC Worldwide brings Top Gear branded content to Cie Games’ Car Town, available now on Facebook

BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment & Games announced today that  Top Gear, the world’s largest motoring brand, will be coming to Cie Games’ successful automotive-based Facebook game, Car Town.  As part of the multiple phase integration, Car Town players are able to explore a branded Top Gear location within the Car Town GPS menu, complete with the Top Gear Hanger and a selection of cars featured on the TV show over the years.  The new location, available now, is themed and designed after the famous Top Gear TV show set.

Robert Nashak, EVP Digital Entertainment & Games, BBC Worldwide said, “As we continue to broaden our Top Gear presence in the gaming space, teaming up with Car Town is a great step into social gaming.  This is the first phase of the integration, with much more to come.”

Players can now explore the Top Gear set location that includes the following:

• Iconic, specially built, and test-driven cars from popular Top Gear episodes.  Dozens of new cars will be added regularly
• The first three cars featured include the 1984 Toyota “Indestructible Hilux” pickup truck, Clarkson’s Mazda MX-5 from the Middle East Special and the 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
• Television monitors in the virtual studio feature Top Gear video clips of the cars on display

“As huge fans of the TV show, we are honored to partner with BBC Worldwide to debut Top Gear in Car Town,” Dennis Suggs, president and CEO of Cie Games commented.  “Our players will be thrilled to visit the Top Gear location and own cars from their favorite episodes.”

Top Gear, which premiered in the UK in 1977, is consistently BBC TWO’s most-watched program in the UK. Top Gear premiered stateside on BBC America in 2007 and continues to air Mondays 9pm EST. One of the BBC’s premiere brands, Top Gear, the magazine, is the leading car publication in the UK, and the global road tour, Top Gear Live, continues to be a global success. The U.S. version of Top Gear, produced by BBC Worldwide Productions for HISTORY, and featuring hosts Tanner Foust, Rutledge Wood and Adam Ferrara will premiere on HISTORY on Tuesday, August 14 at 9pm EST.

To experience the Top Gear Car Town integration visit: www.apps.facebook.com/CarTown

To stay up to date on all BBC Digital Entertainment & Games news, follow @BBCWGames on Twitter and Facebook at www.Facebook.com/BBCGames

About BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games

BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games is a core business within BBC Worldwide, the main commercial arm and wholly-owned subsidiary of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Launched in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles and London, the business works with top BBC brands to develop new opportunities across a wide range of gaming platforms. The business is responsible for the company’s first MMO, Doctor Who: Worlds In Time and the multi-year partnership with Top Gear and Forza Motorsport, amongst many others.

BBC WORLDWIDE

BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the licence fee payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. The company has six core businesses: Channels, Content & Production, Sales & Distribution, Consumer Products, Brands, Consumers & New Ventures and Magazines, with digital ventures incorporated into each business area. In 2010/11, BBC Worldwide generated profits of £160 million on sales of £1158 million and returned £182m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website: www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview
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About Cie Games

Cie Games is a leading developer and publisher of social and mobile games. Its popular game, Car Town, is the first Facebook game built around brands and has attracted more than 46 million players worldwide.  Cie Games has developed licensing, advertising and marketing partnerships and integrations with more than 35 major companies and brands, including NASCAR, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ferrari, Universal Pictures, Regal Entertainment and others.  Cie Games is based in Long Beach, California.

Popular Social Game Platform is Driving Force for Brands to Enter New Markets

LONG BEACH, Calif. — July 24, 2012—Cie Games, successful social game developer and creator of the leading automotive-based Facebook game, Car Town , announced today a partnership with PROTO CORPORATION, the authority on automotive-related consumer and industry information resource in Japan.  Headquartered in Nagoya, Japan, PROTO has tapped Car Town as a marketing vehicle to extend the company’s footprint across Asia.   The announcement unveils a strategic partnership between the two companies with Cie Games being one of the first social game developers to utilize a game as an effective brand building and advertising platform.

The partnership marks an exciting expansion for PROTO CORPORATION entering the social media and gaming market.  Through Car Town, PROTO is able to extend their reach and leverage the game as a powerful media platform to organically integrate and launch the PROTO brand in new countries.

PROTO CORPORATION, a publicly traded company in Japan, provides a marketplace and services for auto dealers, private sellers, and manufacturers to advertise and market their vehicles.  PROTO collects car data, user reviews and pricing for new/used vehicles and publishes the information via their massive network with millions of subscribers via mobile, web and print publications. PROTO’s presence across various mediums is an opportunity for Car Town to reach new audiences.

This publishing deal also cements Cie Games’ presence in Asia, expanding the Car Town franchise and positioning it to massively grow the player community.  Under the terms of the deal, PROTO will publish, market and develop localized versions of Car Town on Facebook for Asia.  The game will be available in 13 countries, including Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.   According to research group Niko Partners, the Southeast Asian online game market is expected to generate revenues of $1 billion by 2015.¹

“We are thrilled to partner with PROTO CORPORATION to focus on bringing localized and exclusive content to Car Town players in Asia,” said Dennis Suggs, president and CEO, Cie Games.  “Enabling fans to play in their native language with new, custom-designed features for each region will further enhance the players’ overall user experience and expand our community.”

With more than 40 million drivers rolling in since launch, Car Town is one of the most in-demand games available on Facebook.  Car Town also features the most robust collection of cars with 35 automotive and motorsports licenses worldwide including Mitsubishi Motors, Honda, and NASCAR.  In Car Town, players can collect and customize virtual cars, build their dream garage and race against friends.

About Cie Games

Cie Games is a leading publisher and developer of social and mobile games. Its popular game, Car Town, is the first Facebook game built around brands and has attracted more than 40 million players worldwide.  Cie Games has developed licensing, advertising and marketing partnerships and integrations with more than 35 major companies and brands, including NASCAR, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ferrari, Universal Pictures, Regal Entertainment and others.  Cie Games is based in Long Beach, California.

Popular Automotive-Based Social Game Garners More Than 1.3 Million Installs in 15 Days;
Cie Games Expands International Footprint in Social Gaming

LONG BEACH, Calif. – July 12, 2012 – Cie Games, successful social games developer, announced today that its leading automotive-based social game, Car Town, is one of the fastest-growing games, and is ranked top ten in the most popular games catalogue on Vkontakte.ru, one of Russia’s top social networks, since the past few weeks. In less than a month after its initial launch, Car Town has earned more than 1.3 million installs on Russia’s biggest social networks, Vkontakte.ru and Odnoklassniki.ru.

Under the terms of the deal, Russian-based social games publisher and operator, 101XP, will develop, market and localize Cie Games’ flagship title, Car Town, for Russia. Through the partnership, Car Town launched on the top three social networks in Russia – Odnoklassniki.ru, Vkontakte.ru and Mail.ru.

“We are very excited to partner with Cie Games as it is an important and strategic collaboration for us,” said Eugene Grigoryev, Vice President of Business Development, 101XP. “We hope to make great strides to drive Russian and European versions of Car Town to the top of automotive-themed social games. Its current position as one of the fastest-growing games on Vkontakte, has already proved that the game will be a great success with our audiences.”

In recent years, the Russian game market has seen a tremendous growth of social and online games. According to DFC Intelligence, the Russian game market will reach $1.5 billion by 2016 which is up from $500 million in 2011 to become one of the fastest growing PC online markets and driven by free-to-play games. The new venture into Russia by Cie Games is just the beginning of the Car Town franchise expanding onto new social networks.

“We are pleased to partner with 101XP and, in a short time, attract more than 1.3 million new Car Town players across top social networks in Russia,” said Dennis Suggs, president and CEO of Cie Games.  “The partnership is part of our on-going commitment to international expansion and dedication to improving players’ overall user experience with focus on local development, marketing, and support for each market.”

Cie Games’ international expansion is the result of rapid and continual growth inside the company.   Cie Games has now grown to 51 employees since June 2010 and is still actively hiring.  For employment opportunities at Cie Games, visit: http://www.ciegames.com/careers/.

For more information about Car Town, visit: www.CarTown.com or to access the game on Odnoklassniki.ru, visit [http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/game/cartown], Vkontakte.ru [http://vk.com/gorodtachek], and Mail.ru [http://my.mail.ru/apps/669609].

About 101XP

101XP is a fast-growing publisher and operator of top quality social games on the largest Russian and international social networking sites. 101XP cooperates with the leading global social games companies, including Cie Games, CrowdStar, Mail.ru Group, Playdemic, RockYou, Vizor Interactive and others. The company’s key titles include Car Town, Gourmet Ranch, It Girl and World of Zombies. With games being operated across up to 8 platforms and 9 languages, played by millions of users in Russia, Poland and Western Europe, 101XP is strongly focused on providing the best possible live service to its players.

About Cie Games

Cie Games is a leading publisher and developer of social and mobile games. Its popular game Car Town is the first Facebook game built around brands, has attracted more than 40 million players.  Cie Games has developed licensing, advertising and marketing partnerships and integrations with more than 35 major companies and brands, including NASCAR, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ferrari, Universal Pictures, Regal Entertainment and others.  Cie Games is based in Long Beach, California.

Cie Games, a successful social game developer and creator of the leading automotive-based Facebook game, Car Town, announced today a collaboration with GreenLight Collectibles, a premier manufacturer of high quality collectibles and specialty lines for INDYCAR and many others, to create and merchandise Car Town branded toy cars based on the popular game.

From classic and sporty to muscle cars, the toy line will feature something for every car enthusiast and Car Town fan.  Some of the cars that will be released at launch include the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, 1970 Plymouth Superbird, 2003 Jeep Wrangler, and 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

“Car Town’s creative game play features and Cie Games’ authentic approach to developing the vehicles and graphics within the game will translate very well to our new line of mini pull-back vehicles,” commented Kevin Davey, Founder of GreenLight Collectibles.  “Our two-speed pull-backs will bring the cars featured in the game to life with vehicles that are fun to play with and collect.”

This marks the entrance of Cie Games into a new market and signals its crossover from social game to consumer products which a select few social games have managed to do. The extension into merchandising and consumer products will lend additional branding/licensing opportunities in the future, providing more presence of Car Town in the consumer marketplace and widening Car Town’s existing customer base.

“We are thrilled to team up with GreenLight Collectibles which has worked with the biggest automotive brands and franchises to design the new toy line,” said Dennis Suggs, President, Cie Games.  “The release of the toy line is a testament to the reach of the Car Town brand.”

With more than 40 million drivers rolling in since launch, Car Town is one of the most in-demand games available on Facebook.  In Car Town, players can collect and customize virtual cars, build their dream garage and race against friends.

Additional information on the toy line will be shared closer to the release scheduled for Fall 2012.  For news and updates, check out www.cartown.com.

About GreenLight® Collectibles

GreenLight® Collectibles is a premier manufacturer and marketer of officially licensed, authentic die-cast replica vehicles and other automotive related products. GreenLight die-cast replicas are produced in 1:18, 1:24, 1:43 and 1:64 scale and are officially licensed by top brand licensors including General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Group LLC, Carroll Shelby Licensing, Sony Pictures, CBS, Universal Studios, Summit Entertainment, Mecum Auto Auctions, IZOD IndyCar Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Grand-Am Road Racing Association and others.

About Cie Games

Cie Games is a leading publisher and developer of social and mobile games. Its popular game Car Town is the first Facebook game built around brands, has attracted more than 40 million players.  Cie Games has developed licensing, advertising and marketing partnerships and integrations with more than 30 major companies and brands, including NASCAR, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ferrari, Universal Pictures, Regal Entertainment and others.  Cie Games is based in Long Beach, California.

Cie Games, a successful social game developer and creator of the leading automotive-based Facebook game, Car Town, announced today The Ferrari Experience in Car Town.  In Car Town, Ferrari real-world benefits are simulated to give players the thrill and experience of owning a Ferrari.  Players can purchase a Ferrari, access iconic locations and take a test-drive on the ultra-private Fiorano Circuit.

For the first time in a game, Car Town has recreated a virtual version of the Ferrari ownership program and reveals how and where the Ferrari prestigious line of cars bearing the Cavalino Rampante badge are born.  As a Ferrari owner, players are granted exclusive access and can visit the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, Italy, stop by the Atelier Showroom and participate in the Ferrari Classiche restoration program.  The new experience features more than 20 coveted Ferrari vehicles, including the 1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT, 1968 365 GTB/4 Daytona and 1957 250 GT California.  Car Town players can rebuild classic Ferrari cars from the ground up to restore, collect and display in their exotic collection.

The culmination of activities will lead into the final phase launching soon with the unveiling of the Fiorano Circuit and release of the F1 Clienti, allowing Car Town players to virtually experience Ferrari Formula 1.  The Fiorano Circuit, owned by Ferrari for development and testing purposes, will allow players to race against their friends to earn trophies and in-game awards through a series of Ferrari branded race challenges.

From car restoration to exclusive access, Car Town players can now immerse themselves in The Ferrari Experience, all while taking virtual advantage of exclusive perks only available to Ferrari owners. Just as in real-life, Ferrari ownership in Car Town is exclusive and not accessible to everyone. The rarest of the Ferraris will be priced between $10 – $100 real world US dollars each. Still, thousands will pay for these virtual Ferraris to get a taste of the Ferrari ownership experience.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/cartown.

About Cie Games

Cie Games is a leading publisher and developer of social and mobile games. Its popular game, Car Town is the first Facebook game built around brands, has attracted more than 40 million players.  Cie Games has developed licensing, advertising and marketing partnerships and integrations with more than 30 major companies and brands, including NASCAR, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Ferrari, Universal Pictures, Regal Entertainment and others.  Cie Games is based in Long Beach, California.