Icelandic Bankers Turn Their Sights On Game Development

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep 23, 2009 -
Former members of the web development team of Landsbanki, an insolvent Icelandic bank, who among other things contributed to the development of icesave.nl, the bank's online deposit operation in the Netherlands, have now shifted their focus to creating computer games for Apple‘s iPhone and iPod touch, by founding the independent gaming studio Dexoris. Its family friendly debut product Peter und Vlad, action adventure game, will be available on the App Store on Friday September 25.

„In our old job we developed world class internet solutions for Landsbanki, which, at the time, was highly enjoyable,“ says Dexoris CEO Snæbjörn Konráðsson: „After the bank's sudden nationalisation and the onset of the Kreppa [as the current Icelandic depression is known], we just wanted to get away from the gloom of the financial industry. We wanted to do something completely different that would get our mind off the current situation and allow others simply to have some fun.“

This is the mission of Reykjavik based Dexoris, which immediately identified the potential of Apple‘s online App Store as a vehicle to deliver it‘s games to the world.

„The App Store enables a small team of developers, like ours, to compete with the big boys in the gaming industry by creating affordable and entertaining games of excellent quality that people can play whenever they want,“ adds Konráðsson.

In the wake of Iceland‘s spectacular financial collapse in the autumn of 2008, the government of this beleaguered Nordic country has attempted to avert a potential brain drain among the country‘s creative professionals, who, as a result of the depreciation of the Icelandic krona and subsequent currency restrictions, look outside of the domestic market to sell their labour, products and services. The government generously supports entrepreneurs by offering low-cost office space and internet access in addition to real financial support, through diverse funding of research and innovation. Dexoris has benefited from this program:

„We are grateful to the government for giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop their ideas and get their products to market.“ Konráðsson remarks and concludes: „Iceland clearly needs to tap all of its creative capital in the recovery. We just want to do our small part.“

For more information visit http://dexoris.com or follow Dexoris on Twitter.
For more information about Peter und Vlad visit http://peter-und-vlad.com.

Press Kit: http://www.peter-und-vlad.com/pr/peter_und_vlad_press_kit...

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10352199/1