Fox to make an explosive return to games industry?

Movie giant 20th Century Fox looks set to follow fellow Hollywood studio Warner Bros back to the games market.

It is understood that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will launch a two-pronged attack, as social networking giant MySpace also strides into the interactive entertainment space.

In the same week that Fox property The Simpsons Game (published by EA) debuted in the All Formats Top 3, MCV can reveal that a review by the UK Department of Trade and Investment has suggested that the media giant is expected to once again establish a games division.

The Government’s Playing For Keeps report surveyed 15 of the UK’s biggest development and publishing companies, and found that a significant number of top execs believe Fox is set to return to the industry.

Fox Interactive’s golden era as a publisher came in the late nineties, when it released a spate of titles including Alien Resurrection, Die Hard Trilogy, Simpsons Wrestling and original IP Croc.

Meanwhile, News Corps’ MySpace portal is to become a games distribution network. Oberon Media was signed up to provide the social networking site with online titles last week, as part of its new ‘MySpace Games’ service.

And the developer believes that the site will quickly become a ‘major player’ in the market. Oberon’s EVP of global online platforms Ezra Kucharz told MCV: MySpace can be a major player in the video games industry. It can stand alongside the likes of Microsoft and Pogo.

MySpace is a massively powerful consumer brand. It gives gamers the chance to socialise through play.”