Re-Entering the Gaming World: Canadian Developer Sarbakan Games
A while back we were introduced to an interesting casual and social outfit all the way from Quebec City in Canada, Sarbakan Game Studios. But just who is Sarbakan? For 10 years, they’ve been a developer for social and casual spaces and have created roughly 600 games ranging from simple advergames, to virtual space titles such as Littlest Pet Shop: My Teeniest Town.
For a while, the Canadian developer has flown under the radar, remaining relatively quiet despite such big name partnerships such as Playfirst, Mindscape, Big Fish Games, Real Arcade, Nickelodeon Arcade, Hasbro, and Disney. However, it was roughly a month ago that the company stated it was going to “re-enter” the gaming world with an announced partnership with Microsoft, in which they would be developing games for Xbox Live Arcade.
While we do not know the exact games to be released, with the changes being made to the Xbox Live service, this partnership may prove to be most useful for both parties. As one of the most popular of the online console game services, roughly 30 million global sales of the Xbox 360 itself with over 20 million Xbox Live accounts (according to Microsoft.com), Live offers a brand new outlet of users for Sarbakan. However, with its collection of games catering primarily to hardcore — male — audiences (Halo 3, Call of Duty, Team Fortress, etc.), Microsoft does miss out on a great deal of the female demographic.
This is where Sarbakan comes into play. While females do play on the Xbox 360, it does tend to be less than the more casual Nintendo Wii. However, Sarbakan has focused a great deal on games catering to the female audience. According to the company, the past year has seen a big increase in female gamers. Approximately 28% its gamers are now women, and this number is still continuing to rise. Furthermore, recent time has begun to show a shift in online gaming. Based on statements received from Sarbakan, “internet connected consoles [are] projected to rise to 80% of all households (148 million out of 190 million) by 2012.” Between these sets of numbers, one can see the potential that lies, not only in the online console market, but the growing female audience as well. To that end, Sarbakan has also announced a bit of a teaser.
Though only a small amount is known thus far, a new game by the name of Star Fever Agency is also in development. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much to share just yet, but it is a social MMO designed specifically for girls. Players join up as part of the “Star Fever Agency” and are tasked with turning what the game dubs a “nobody” into someone of superstardom, while dealing with all the virtual drawbacks that Hollywood brings with it. Whether the game will be web only or available for Xbox Live as well is yet to be determined, but it certainly looks and sounds interesting and could very well boost that female userbase for Microsoft. Or, at least help it down the path of turning Live into a more, all encompassing, social space. Regardless, we will continue to watch for new information, but, in the meantime, you can check out the current teaser trailer for yourself, here.
