Dreamfall Chapters Announced

Funcom announces that The Longest Journey will continue and continue some more, as the next installment in their adventure series will adopt that episodic distribution scheme that all the kids are talking about. The other twist here is that this is being supported by a grant that Funcom has received from the Norwegian Film Fund, said to be part of " the Norwegian government’s active endorsement of the Norwegian game development industry." Dreamfall Chapters is currently in preproduction, and does not yet have a release schedule. Here' s word:
Durham, USA – March 1, 2007 – Funcom announces that the Norwegian Film Fund has awarded Funcom a grant which will partially finance research and initial development of ‘Dreamfall Chapters’. The grant enables Funcom to establish a core technology team which will research online-only delivery methods of episodic content, as well as lay the foundation for a later pre-production phase of ‘Dreamfall Chapters’.

The online-only business model is a natural evolution of Funcom’s strategy. Through the research Funcom also aims to find new ways of expanding the brand value of ‘The Longest Journey’, while reducing the chance of piracy. As Funcom seeks to further strengthen an already established IP, the potential for a future ‘The Longest Journey’ MMO increases.

“We will be researching an online-only continuation of the epic ‘Longest Journey’ saga, and we very much look forward to develop new chapters to the Dreamfall gaming community,” said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “To see the Norwegian government take such an active role in nurturing the local game development industry is impressive. In return for their trust we aim to deliver a modern adventure game with unique qualities.”

The grant is part of the Norwegian government’s active endorsement of the Norwegian game development industry. Since the inception of the program in 2004 the government has supported a wide range of games, including ‘Dreamfall: The Longest Journey’. Funcom naturally welcomes the continued cultural acceptance of computer games as a medium comparable to film and television. With the aid of the program fans can now look forward to new online chapters in one of the most popular adventure sagas of all time.

Each new installment of ‘Dreamfall Chapters’ will initially be delivered as online-only content, but there may be retail releases with combined chapters, both for console and PC, at a later stage. Funcom will not release any additional information about ‘Dreamfall Chapters’ for the time being.