Anyone old enough to have set foot in a video arcade recognizes the name Galaga, the game that had players vaporizing housefly-like aliens in outer space. Now, in the endless hunt for marketable IP, the insectoids are getting their own back story.
Sweden- and L.A.-based production company The Nuttery Entertainment is developing an animated series and other extensions of the 35-year-old Galaga brand. The Nuttery has signed an agreement with Bandai Namco Entertainment, the Japanese video-game firm responsible for Galaga, which was spawned by an earlier classic, Galaxian.
The Nuttery, a new outfit specializing in digital content, is expecting to develop new characters and stories based on Galaga, including an animated series titled “Galaga Chronicles.” The company’s creators, Magnus Jansson and Erik Öhrner, previously founded animation studio Assorted Nuts. The new Galaga projects are to cut across various platforms.
“We are incredibly honored to be able to work on such an amazing legacy property and help launch it into the animated space,” Jansson said. “There is such a deep love for this game from fans around the world, and our team is excited make sure the next chapter in the Galaga saga is equally impressive and inspiring as its humble 8-bit beginnings.”
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Added Hirotaka Watanabe, an executive officer at Bandai Namco: “While the re-imagining of the game into animation will be unique and, for the first time in Galaga’s history, story- and character-based, there is also a great respect for its history.”
The Galaga deal continues the trend of transferring video games to film and TV, including such properties as Lara Croft and World of Warcraft.
