Christian Retailing

Christian video games 'have longer lives' Print Email
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Thursday, 04 March 2010 03:23 PM America/New_York

Inspired Media Entertainment--the inspirational video game company that makes games based on the "Left Behind" book series, which announced merger plans last week with Digital Praise--reports that consumers have shown a desire "to purchase good, wholesome games."

Three PC games--including Charlie Church Mouse, retailing between $19.96 and $29.96--by the company formerly known as Left Behind Games were offered last fall in approximately 100 Wal-Mart stores in Dallas and Houston as well as in other Texas markets.

Left Behind: Tribulation Forces and Charlie Church Mouse were "completely sold out" in those stores several days before Christmas, Inspired Media officials said. "Further, the original, 3-year old Left Behind: Eternal Forces continued to show life as it was distributed in nearly every Target store in America, demonstrating that Christian games have longer lives."

Inspired Media officials added that the retail test was "significantly successful enough" to attract interest from the country's largest video-game representative firm, SMP Communications--resulting in an agreement to distribute its products into mainstream retail outlets throughout this year.

"Major Christian retailers appear to be bouncing back from the recession and have begun to place orders," Inspired Media officials said. "Now that the marketplace appears to be ready for more Christian games, our new focus on the Nintendo Wii and XBox 360 for future titles should begin our company's transformation from a PC game publisher to an all-platform video game producer. ... Christian games will become a significant market. The question isn't 'if,' it's just a matter of 'when.' "

Inspired Media publishes six games, including Charlie Church Mouse, Keys of the Kingdom and Left Behind: Tribulation Forces, the sequel to Left Behind: Eternal Forces--regarded as the most widely distributed Christian PC game.