Sins of a Solar Empire crosses the Pond

Although Kalypso Media has been operating in the UK only since August 2007, the Leicester-based company announced today a new transatlantic publishing alliance. The fledgling publisher confirmed that it is teaming up with Stardock Entertainment to publish Ironclad Games' critically acclaimed debut Sins of a Solar Empire in Europe, and is looking to launch the game across the continent by early June.

Stardock and Ironclad have been looking for a European publisher since the game's US release. One of their representatives told GameSpot UK in February, shortly after the game's US release, "Hopefully with the success of the game in North America, someone will pick it up soon. We were told that space games just wouldn't sell over there."

Sins of a Solar Empire is a real-time strategy game on an interstellar scale that sees players control one of three factions spreading out from a single world in an attempt to gain control of resources and territory while dealing with battle tactics and empire-wide issues. Scoring 9.0 when reviewed by GameSpot in February, it was described as an "addictive, deep game that elevates space strategy to new levels."

Sins of a Solar Empire will have a recommended retail price of £29.99 ($60) in the UK and €39.99 ($63) in the Eurozone, and will include six exclusive maps and a tech-tree poster. The game made it into the US top 10 earlier this year, having sold 100,000 units online at retail over a period of two months, according to Kalypso.

Kalypso and Stardock's deal isn't limited just to Europe. The former also announced that it has the rights to publish Sins of a Solar Empire in both the Middle and Far East, though release dates and pricing information for those regions haven't yet been announced.