Nintendo UK has hired The Red Consultancy as its new exclusive third-party PR agency.

As predicted by MCV last week, Red will replace nine-year partner Cake Media, which handled the hugely successful launches of Wii, DS and DS Lite.

Red takes up the reins of the Nintendo account with immediate effect.

However, Cake will continue to handle PR for Nintendo’s pan-European operation.

UK Marketing Director Dawn Paine told MCV:

"We would like to thank everyone at Cake for their hard work and fantastic results over the past nine years and we wish them the very best for the future. We are looking forward to a long and successful relationship with The Red Consultancy who will immediately get to work on our peak season campaigns."

Divisional Director at Red Isobel Archer, added: "Nintendo is one of the most exciting brands of the moment with products like the Wii and Nintendo DS moving gaming from a niche activity to entertainment for everyone. We're really looking forward to working with the team to reach new audiences and take the brand out into lifestyle and mainstream media."

And Cake CEO Mike Matheison commented: "All good things come to an end and after nine years that encompassed the launch of Pokemon through to the launch of Wii, we leave Nintendo UK at a time when we have delivered number one share of voice and have contributed to record sales. We look forward to working closely with Nintendo UK through our ongoing role with Nintendo of Europe."