Vivendi Universal to publish Malice on the Xbox and PS2

UK-based developer Argonaut Games has revealed through its latest financial statement that it has reached a development agreement with Vivendi Universal Publishing for its upcoming action game Malice: A Dark and Comic Fiery Tale. Vivendi's Sierra Studio will publish Malice on both the Microsoft Xbox and the Sony PlayStation 2 sometime in 2002, with a Nintendo GameCube version remaining a strong possibility. The lead version of the game--the Xbox version--is currently well into development, and Argonaut has already initiated work on the PlayStation 2 version.

"Exploiting Argonaut's multiplatform abilities in this way gives Malice a much larger target market, and with the marketing and distribution capabilities of Vivendi Universal, we aim to grow the Malice franchise over the coming years," Argonaut's statement read. When reached for comment regarding the publishing agreement, a Vivendi Universal representative said that the company is not ready to provide any official confirmation on the subject at this time.

In addition to the announcement regarding Malice, Argonaut revealed that it has signed its second publishing deal with Microsoft to develop an exclusive game for the Xbox console. Just Add Monsters Limited, Argonaut's recently acquired subsidiary studio in Cambridge, England, will develop the game. Development on the game will be completed in June 2002, with its release planned for later that year. It will be the second exclusive game being developed for the Xbox by a team within the Argonaut group. Although specific information regarding the first project is scarce, it is known that the game will make use of Microsoft's voice-recognition utility, the Xbox Communicator.

Finally, Argonaut provided updates on some of its announced projects. The company is currently speaking with several publishers regarding its story-driven action game Orchid (shown as part of the original Xbox demo reel and featuring a female lead) and its squad-based combat-strategy game Kleaners. Although negotiations are currently under way, Argonaut said that it doesn't necessarily want to accelerate the negotiations in order to accommodate a year-end release. However, the company feels that specific deals for both of the games will be announced in the near future. Its racing game/delivery simulator Cash on Delivery, which was dropped by Hasbro Interactive when Hasbro was acquired by Infogrames, is still in development. Argonaut is currently seeking a publisher for that title as well.

GameSpot will have more on Argonaut's next-generation projects, including the two unannounced Xbox-exclusive games, as further information becomes available.