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Video Game Authors Get Presses Rolling at Random House

by Caleb Johnson on March 3, 2010 at 08:30 AM

With books increasingly going digital, publishers are looking to diversify their business in order to stay viable. Random House is taking the lead by venturing into the video game market. According to Kotaku, the publishing giant has launched a division whose specific goal is to develop and write original stories for video games.

The new division, dubbed IP Creation and Development Group, will create original worlds and characters for game developers and will help flesh-out games' plots. Now, keep in mind, book publishers and game developers aren't exactly strangers; Random House's Del Rey imprint, in particular, has published countless novels based on games. But this announcement turns the tables, putting Random House at the helm of a game's story. The division's first project will find it working on a story for a fantasy strategy game called 'Elemental: War of Magic,' which should be released later this year. Along with the game, Random House will publish a novel called 'Elemental: Destiny's Embers,' written by the game's creator and executive producer Brad Wardell.

What exactly does all this synergy mean for the average gamer? Well, it means you might not be as tempted to skip those cut scenes anymore. If this venture is successful, the plot quality in games could increase dramatically. Traditionally, video games haven't been considered a serious storytelling medium, but with the help of a publisher like Random House, all that could soon change. [From: Kotaku, via: Tech Radar]

Tags: books, novel, print, publishing, randomhouse, story, storytelling, top, videogames

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