Paramount Announces Rango Virtual World From Funtactix

Paramount Pictures has announced that Funtactix will develope a virtual world based on the upcoming animated feature film Rango. The virtual world, called Rango: The WORLD, will launch alongside the Rango film on March 4. It will be one of several virtual worlds based on Paramount film properties that Funtactix will create using its ‘The WORLD’ engine, which the company has spent the last few years developing. In Rango: The World, players can create their own avatar and customizable hub area. Players can explore environments from the film, meet the film’s characters, play games, and complete quests.

“Rango: The WORLD is the first announced game that uses our revolutionary ’The WORLD’ solution, which lets us bring animation film assets into a web-based game without compromising fidelity or authenticity,” said Sam Glassenberg, CEO of Funtactix. “Rango is a visually groundbreaking feature; combining the film’s assets with our technology provided the perfect springboard for us to permanently raise the bar for browser-based games and bring the world of Rango to the massive audience of fans on the web.”

Paramount Pictures has featured its licenses in deals with third-party virtual worlds before, though it apparently hasn’t conducted a major virtual world promotion since it promoted The Spiderwick Chronicles in Sulake’s Habbo nearly three years ago. Before Paramount Pictures went quiet, it was a prolific promoter in third party virtual worlds. Paramount Pictures brands showed up in PlayStation Home and the now-obscure virtual world Vizwoz. This is all happening around the time that Israel-based Funtactix is focusing on its original IP virtual world, Moondo.

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