Orson Scott Card‘s Ender’s Game is set to become a video game. The deal, announced Tuesday, will be for Chair Entertainment to develop titles based on Card’s book across all next-generation consoles, handheld platforms, and PC. Chair plans to release a downloadable game based on the book in 2009.
In Ender’s Game, “humanity is at war with an alien species known as the Formics, and Battle School is the training ground for the future leaders of Earth’s International Fleet. Taken at a very young age, Earth’s most brilliant children undergo a rigorous training desinged to teach advanced military theory where strategic and tactical glory is won in the null gravity battles known to the elite students simply as the game. Through simulated war games and training conducted in the Battle Room, the children rise through the ranks of Battle School to become Earth’s only hope for victory.”
Card told Reuters he went with the video game plan after years of wrangling and stalled attempts to make a feature film. “There is going to be a universe of Ender’s Game games, hopefully. But that’s like someone starting a restaurant and thinking about opening 100 franchises all over the country. Let’s make this one work first,” he said.
Chair, founder in 2005, is a privately held company based in Provo, Utah. They produced Undertow, a downloadable game for Xbox 360. Chair’s Creative Director Donald Mustard said “I have been a huge fan of Ender’s Game since I was ten years old, so it is a true honor for our team to be entrusted with creating the first video game inspired by this classic story. Our goal is to create an authentic Ender’s Game experience that delivers awesome gameplay and can be enjoyed by both longtime fans and gamers new to the series.”
This is not the first time Card has worked with Chair. They collaborated on the 2006 release of Empire the game and the novel. Warner Brothers is currently developing a feature film based on Empire.
The full Reuters article is available at this link.