Interview: IG Fun talks movies, Playboy and its ambition to be a Top 5 mobile games publisher

If you're a keen mobile gamer, chances are you'll already be aware of Indiagames. The publisher is huge in its native India, but it has also been releasing games here in the UK for several years. However, it's just announced a new spin-off, called IG Fun, which will be its new brand name here in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

The first game to be announced from IG Fun is Battle Chess, a spin on the famous PC game where pieces actually hack and slash at each other on the chess board (pictured above). It'll come in 2D and 3D versions, and includes ten skill levels for all abilities.

We had a chat with Gulshan David, IG Fun's key account manager for Europe, to find out what else is coming up from the publisher.

"IG Fun isn't something new, as we've been publishing internationally for years," David says. "We're not just going to release games that we've developed though. We're going to go out looking for games from other people, for example smaller developers around Europe, and publish those too."

Big brands will also play a part, however. IG Fun has the rights to the upcoming Rush Hour 3 film, and will be releasing a game based on that. Do movie games sell well? They don't often feature in the charts, so we wonder if their sales tend to drop off after their premiere puts them in the news.

"They'll always come in a big blast for the first weekend," he admits. "It's a pretty short window for us, in terms of the game selling while the movie is out. But we're very practical about it, and we make sure we maximise the sales within that window."

Interestingly, it's not just Hollywood that's on IG Fun's horizons. David says the publisher is keen to find local licences to turn into games, including in the UK.

"We want to come to the UK and look at UK-specific licences, for example British films," he says. "Or we might go to Spain and get some local Spanish content. It's about getting stuff that's very relevant to that particular market."

IG Fun is also working with Playboy on four games, based on pool, casino, racing and pinball. However, David is keen to stress that they won't be smutty or seedy titles.

"It won't be hardcore," he says. "It'll be very soft, very classy and very high-end. This isn't about cheap erotic porno! Playboy are very particular about the kind of image they want to set, so these will be good-quality adult games. It won't be porn or nudity at all."

Fingers crossed for that. There are hundreds of adult games available on mobile, and most of them are rubbish (a good 70 per cent of them are terrible Tetris knock-offs). If IG Fun's promise of quality adult games comes true, there could be a big audience out there.

Either way, we'll be bringing you news and reviews of all the games mentioned above in the coming months, so stay tuned.