Birmingham Science Park Aston (BSPA) based social games developer Soshi Games is gearing up for its first release and is on the lookout for private sector investors.

A member of BSPA’s Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) scheme, which provides start-up technology businesses with offices facilities and support, Soshi has already secured £125,000 of funding from a public sector venture capital organisation.  However in order to unlock this funding, the company will need to match it with the same amount sourced from private sector investors.

Cliff Dennett, Commercial and Design Director of Soshi Games, said:  “Securing this investment is fantastic, but as it’s from a public sector venture capital fund, it needs to be match-funded before it can be released.  Around 90 per cent of the funding that we are looking for will go into employing full-time graphic artists and programmers, and is critical to our continued development.

“Social games are a relatively new concept, but have widespread appeal as they are easily accessible to everyone, be they dedicated gamers or those looking for a distraction during their lunch hour.  The social element of the genre is great because it encourages players to interact with each other in order to get the most out of the game, rather than play in isolation.

“The e4f programme has been completely invaluable in assisting us in getting off the ground, while being based at Birmingham Science Park Aston has put us right at the heart of Birmingham’s creative, technology-savvy start-up businesses through whom we have been able to network and share best practice.”

This is an exciting time for Soshi, as the company is also preparing for the launch of its first title, Music Festivals, The Game, where players design, build and run their own mini Glastonbury or V, setting up stages, booking acts and managing the site.  Players decide on which artists they would like to feature on their stages and a selection of their tracks are played to the audience.

In order to provide players with tracks from actual artists, Soshi uses 30 second preview clips supplied by a major industry partner and gives the player options to purchase the full length tracks, similar to iTunes.

 The company also has an agreement in place with a music distributor to use tracks from over 80,000 emerging artist from around the world, ensuring that Music Festivals, The Game is a platform for up-and-coming talent as well as established bands.

Like other social games, users can progress more quickly through the game by interacting with other players, even setting up a ‘guest stage’ at a friend’s festival, or enticing away their audience if they haven’t hired enough on-site security.

Simon Jenner, Head of Incubation, Birmingham Science Park Aston, said: “Attaining funding is one of the principle objectives of the e4f programme and it is always extremely gratifying to see a company’s hard work and commitment come to fruition like this.

“Social gaming is a relatively new platform for developers, however as the link between our real-world and online lives continues to strengthen, I am positive that we will see an increase in the number of titles like these that are coming to the market.”

While Music Festivals, The Game will initially be released on Facebook, ported versions that will function on tablet devices and smartphones are already under development and the company has a keen eye on emerging social networks, like Google+.

Information and contact details for SoshiGames can be found at www.soshigames.com, and a short early promo film for Music Festivals, The Game can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

For more information on Birmingham Science Park Aston, please visit:  www.bsp-a.com, or for the Entrepreneurs for the Future programme, visit:  www.e4f.bsp-a.com.

ENDS
Notes to Editors
Located on the edge of the city centre, Birmingham Science Park Aston is one of a select number of urban science parks within the UK.  The 14 acre park is wholly owned by Birmingham City Council.

To be eligible to apply for a place within the incubator, start-ups must be less than a year old, must be, or be capable of becoming a Ltd company, the business idea must be innovative and the founder must be willing to relocate or establish the business to the e4f Centre at BSPA.   Businesses should be operating in the Digital Media, ICT, Med Tech or Clean Tech sectors.

The e4f programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.