Global independent games developer and publisher, formerly Ignition Entertainment, has announced a major strategic evolution and rebrand under its parent company, global media and entertainment conglomerate, UTV Group. The company’s trading name will now be UTV Ignition Entertainment.

UTV Ignition Entertainment will focus on development and publishing of a new benchmark of quality games content for current and emerging direct-to-user platforms including Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, Facebook, Google Games, and Apple touch devices.

UTV Ignition Entertainment also today announced considerable investment around direct-to-user marketing, with plans to build and engage its own digital gaming communities helping to enable breakout titles in an increasingly crowded online market.

“To begin, we’ll be investing to work with the industry’s best talent to create outstanding games at mass market new price-points,” said Hassan Sadiq, chairman of UTV Ignition Entertainment.

“The industry is moving to a place where gamers want more for their buck. There is a demand to market and publish games at more inclusive price points that maintain the same level of quality as their boxed counterparts, and we will invest directly in our own gaming communities to drive this.”

“With gaming across new platforms, such as social networking and mobile devices, becoming ever more popular, it’s important we can engage users directly to foster two-way dialogue and offer the best gaming experiences for them.”

UTV Ignition Entertainment recognises a huge opportunity in digital publishing and is committed to be at its forefront. Sadiq concluded: “With dedicated offices in London (HQ), Los Angeles, Florida and Japan, we are choosing to invest in an uncompromising dedication to content, and community engagement for our users.

In addition to UTV Ignition Entertainment’s new digital publishing focus, the company has also invested in a commitment to creativity and innovation as founding core values for its three internal studios. Headquartered in Tokyo, Florida and London UTV Ignition Entertainment’s internal studios have attracted some of the best talent in the industry including key ex-members from Platinum Games (nee Clover Studios), id Software, Square-Enix, Codemasters, and Capcom. The wholly owned UTV Ignition internal studios are in advanced stages of developing three original triple-A IPs: El Shaddai (Tokyo), Reich (Florida) and War Devil (London).

For further information on UTV Ignition please go to: http://www.utvignition.com/