Nordic Game Developer UDS Opens Second Swedish Studio In Gothenburg

Nordic Game Developer UDS Opens Second Swedish Studio In Gothenburg [Norrkoping, Sweden, February 21, 2001.] Leading Scandinavian computer game developer UDS has recently opened its second Swedish studio in the western port of Gothenburg with initially 15 employees. With headquarters in the central city of Norrkoping, and a subsidiary in Britain, the newly opened office in Gothenburg is the company's third which brings the total number of employees to approx. 100. "UDS' rapid expansion and the increasing international demand for our computer, video and console games are the main reasons for our decision to establish an office in Gothenburg. The Gothenburg region has a good supply of competent and creative programmers and designers, and the city itself is has an excellent infrastructure and a proximity to the continent which suits us", said Thomas Lofblad, Managing Director, UDS. UDS' office in Gothenburg will initially have 15 employees, with Oskar Burman as Studio Manager. Oskar Burman is one of the veterans in UDS as an employee since 1994. Mr. Burman has e.g. produced Ignition, Sno Cross and is now producer for World Scariest Police Chases together with Fox. UDS has also decided to base its new subsidiary for the development and marketing of products for interactive entertainment, GlobalFun, in Gothenburg. GlobalFun, which recently launched its new web site for interactive entertainment (www.GlobalFun.com) has initially seven employees which brings the total number of employees within the UDS group that are based in Gothenburg to 20. About UDS: UDS, Unique Development Studios AB, was founded in 1997 and is today one of Scandinavia's leading and most profitable developers of computer-, video- and console games. UDS has close to 100 employees at its headquarters in Norrkoping and in Gothenburg and Britain. UDS is owned by its founders and employees, and by Slottsbacken Venture Capital, Nordico Invest and Bank of America. UDS has well established partnerships with many of the leading publishing companies in the world, and the company has received several large orders for computer and video games lately. GlobalFun is a fully-owned subsidiary of UDS. GlobalFun develops and supplies interactive entertainment products for the world market, e.g. via its own en "gaming community" on the Internet. GlobalFun will also market UDS-developed games for digital TV and cellular phones. UDS' turnover was 32,1 MSEK last year, which is an increase from the previous year by 88 per cent. The net result amounted to 146 KSEK. Sales per employee increased by 27 per cent to 617 KSEK, and the number of employees increased from 39 to 86 in 2000. För further information and illustrations please contact: Thomas Lofblad Managing Director, UDS Ph: +46 11 12 31 65 Cellph: +46 708 62 44 63 E-mail: thomas.lofblad@uds.se Also see our web sites: www.globalfun.com or www.uds.se. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/21/20010220BIT01390/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/21/20010220BIT01390/bit0002.pdf