Duels of the Planeswalkers gives Stainless smash hit on XBLA

8th July 2009 - Stainless Games’ latest product, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, has shot straight to the June number one spot on Xbox LIVE Arcade.   Despite enjoying just two full weeks’ worth of sales, the game has smashed past rivals to become the top selling title for the entire month of June, as calculated by VGChartz XBLA listings.

Developed by Stainless and published by Wizards of the Coast LLC, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers is a unique digital version of Wizards’ Magic: The Gathering trading card game phenomenon. Critics have already hailed the game as having achieved the difficult double of appealing to newcomers and dedicated fans alike.

“As an active Magic: The Gathering player myself, this was the perfect project for the company to work on.” said Patrick Buckland, CEO of Stainless Games.  “It is fantastic that it’s become our second title to hit Number 1 on XBLA in such a short time.”

Matt Edmunds – Stainless Games’ COO remarked: “We’re thrilled that the game has sold in such numbers and so quickly. It validates our view that Digital Distribution in general and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade in particular is an exciting place to be right now.”

He added that as well as the production team at Stainless, who had put an immense effort into producing a truly great title, a lot of the credit had to go to Wizards, who had been “fantastic” partners during the development process. “And of course thanks to everyone who has bought the game, which has the most terrific following.”

Mr Buckland said that the developer was already receiving numerous requests for additional download content packs of cards and challenges.

Stainless Games has been a pioneer of console download, with its Crystal Quest and Novadrome titles appearing in the launch window of the Xbox Live Arcade platform and was delighted to have a previous Number One XBLA title in 2007 with the Atari classic game, Missile Command. It has now completed a total of 10 titles on XBLA, making it the UK’s most prolific download developer.

For additional information on “Duels of the Planeswalkers,” please visit: www.duelsoftheplaneswalkers.com.

About Stainless Games

Stainless Games is a privately owned company based on the South Coast of the UK. Although best known for the creation of the multi-million selling Carmageddon franchise, the company is today recognized as one of the world’s leading companies in the burgeoning Console Download market. For more information visit the Stainless Games website at www.stainlessgames.com.

Magic: The Gathering, Magic and Duels of the Planeswalkers are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries.  

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All PRESS enquiries regarding Magic: the Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers should be directed to the Wizards of the Coast media contact:

Tolena Thorburn
425.204.8011
Tolena.Thorburn@wizards.com

Magic: The Gathering, Magic, Magic Online and Dungeons & Dragons are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries.