Majesco and Starbreeze sign next-gen dev deal

Majesco today announced that the publisher has signed Starbreeze to develop a game for the next generation of console systems. The Sweden-based developer is best known for The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, which was released in June for the Xbox. No specifics were given as to the nature of the game in development nor as to what its target platforms will be.

In August, Starbreeze CEO Johan Kristiansson posted a message on the developer's Swedish language Web page announcing that the company had signed a letter of intent to develop next-gen games for a then-unnamed American publisher.

"Following our success with Riddick, many leading publishers have shown interest in working with us," Kristiansson said at the time. "That has given us a good negotiating position, and we have been able to choose between many different projects."

Today, he elaborated on the choice of publisher. “Majesco has a fine reputation in the development community for partnering with its developers to assemble a single, cohesive team dedicated to producing quality products. We are excited to be working with them on creating content for the next generation of video game systems.”

Today's statement suggests that Majesco anticipates the release of next-generation hardware in 2006; whether the game in question is scheduled to be ready by then has not yet been confirmed.