2023-08-01 19:22:20
New milestone for the Catalan video game industry: Netflix publishes this Tuesday a game designed and produced in Barcelona. It is the first time that the american platform, which already has 70 video games in its catalogue, turns to the Spanish market for one of its launches in this field. In this case, as EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA, from Grupo Prensa Ibérica, has learned, the alliance has been sealed with ZeptoLaba company of Russian origin that moved its headquarters to Barcelona in 2016 and is responsible for ‘Cut the Rope‘, a well-known franchise that since Tuesday, August 1, has a specific version for Netflix.
‘Cut the Rope’ es un puzzle starring a iconic green doll called Om Name, to which a candy has to be delivered that hangs from several ropes connected between them. In the original version of the game, the goal is to cut the ropes in the right order to achieve the optimal balance and for the candy to reach the protagonist of the game. The saga started shooting in 2010, became known worldwide in 2011 with the second version of the game, and since then, accumulates 2 billion downloads.
“It has become a brand: it has its animation serieswe have licensed the brand to other developershas ‘merchandising‘…”, they say ZeptoLab Product and Design Manager, Jan Richterand his creative director, Eugene Yailenko. “Netflix has a massive subscriber base, so we feel like this is an incredible match as their huge audience joins our broad reach – it’s a great way to connect with new people,” the two explain.
Despite preserving its essence and objective, and continuing to be available only in mobile y tablets (not in the TV app), the Netflix version has some substantial differences from the original game. For example, only one level will be published per day, which will be the same in all parts of the world. In this way, they say, they will try to promote the competition between friends or family. In addition, although the puzzles will remain available to play as long as the Netflix user does not enter the platform one day, ZeptoLab has designed a way to reward those who interact every day con Om Nom.
Another novelty is that the difficulty and elaboration of the levels are increased: 10 stars will have to be collected, instead of the 3 that are standard in the traditional version, and new objects are incorporated with which to alter the movements of the candy. “By going out only once a day, if it is very easy to solve, people are not going to talk about it with their friends,” explain Richter and Yailenko, who also celebrate not having to think, this time, about ways to monetize the game. “This is a gift for any video game developer,” they say.
Long-term relationship
This studio, which is still owned by the two brothers who founded it (original creators of ‘Cut the Rope’) and in which a total of a hundred people work (about 80 in Barcelona)has been working on this edition of the game for a year, for which it already has three months of content ready and on which they continue to work with the intention of going much further.
“Our wish is that this is only the beginning, that this works and that we can bring Om Nom in other ways to Netflix or even continue collaborating with others original games”, confess both responsible.
If this desire were fulfilled, it would undoubtedly be good news for Barcelona, a city that has been key in its development as a studio and from which they seem to have no intention of moving. “It is a very good place for mobile game development, New town specific [el barrio donde tienen su sede] is a hotbed of technology companies, and it is a very good place to attract talent”, reason both. “In this sector you are only as good as your people, because this is your only capital, and Barcelona has a very good combination of price and quality of life, so it is very easy to convince people to move here”, conclude. “Basically everyone is here, everyone big studios and ‘players’ in this space have at least one studio here”, they conclude.
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