Sumo Digital to create Doctor Who video game tie in
The BBC has announced that a video game tie in with the new series of Doctor Who is being developed by Sheffield based game development company Sumo Digital.
The game will be created for PC and Mac formats, entitled Doctor Who: The Adventure Games and will feature the 11th Doctor alongside new assistant Amy Pond – which were both introduced to viewers properly on Saturday evening.
The game will be overseen by the programme’s executive staff and will be scripted by Phil Ford, who co-wrote last year’s Doctor Who special Waters of Mars and James Moran who wrote Torchwood: Children’s of Earth.
Simon Nelson, head of BBC multiplatform in vision, said: "Establishing new forms of drama is exactly what the BBC should be doing. By aiming these 'interactive episodes' at the broad audience of TV show - unique in British television, in that it encompasses at least three generations - we're aiming to encourage the family to gather round the PC or Mac in the same way they do the television. Driving computer literacy is a keystone of the BBC's public service remit and we expect Doctor Who: The Adventure Games to be hugely popular in the homes of Britain this year.
"Only the BBC could produce such an innovative slice of new drama. We're offering two-hour original Doctor Who episodes to production standards on a par with the TV series, working with the very best creatives within the UK. We're hugely proud of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, which will establish new standards in interactive drama and allow families the country over to enjoy Doctor Who stories in unique and innovative ways.
"Doctor Who: The Adventure Games will offer the chance for Doctor Who fans to visit places they've only dreamed off, facing off against monsters they've previously had to imagine," concludes Anwen Aspden, Executive Producer, BBC Wales Online. "Players will visit places which have never been shown on television - and these will go on to define the look and feel of future TV episodes."
The series will be treated as four new episodes of the current series with the first episode set to be released for free on the BBC website in June.