- Novel, Inc.
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Novel, Inc. Type Private Industry Simulation and Video game industry Founded Redmond (2009[1]) Headquarters Kirkland, USA Key people Brayden Olson (CEO)
Toby Ragaini (Director of Product Development)
Paul Furio (Technical Director)
Mike Marr (Creative Director)Products Empire & State Employees 20+ Website novelincorporated.com Novel, Inc. is a video game studio and enterprise simulation developer, based in Kirkland, Washington, United States. Novel is known for being both a traditional video game developer and bridging the gaming and business world with enterprise simulations.[2][3]
The latter work, being deemed by press as "The Matrix for businesses,"[4] was ranked by The Huffington Post as one of the Top 30 Most Underrated Innovations of 2010 at #18 between Gmail #19 and the iPad #17.[4]
Novel is led by a leadership team made up of video game industry veterans from EA, Microsoft, Bungie, Turbine, Big Fish and Playdom.[5] Novel was founded by the young American entrepreneur Brayden Olson who continues to be the company’s chief executive.[6]
Divisions
The company is made up of three divisions: Novel Studios, Novel Labs and Novel Simulations.[7]
Novel Studios (Videogames)
The company is working on their first major videogame release, the massively multi-player online real time strategy game Empire & State.[8] Empire & State is said to be a massively multi-player game driven by business, politics, military and crime, and is expected to be commercially released in Q2 of 2011.[8] In one interview with Lead Designer Mike Marr, it is described as "Civilization 5 with hundreds of players fighting Risk-style on a hex map, but with the focus on politics and economy".[9]
Novel Labs (The University of Washington)
Novel has an announced partnership with the University of Washington’s Center for Leadership & Strategic Thinking, which is part of the University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business.[10] The stated goal for the partnership is to, "become the undisputed heavy weight champions and thought leaders in the new enterprise simulations space."[10] It was also announced that this simulation was being built for a yet unnamed Fortune 1000 company in the Pacific Northwest.[11]
Novel Simulations (Enterprise Simulations)
The specific details of Novel’s first enterprise simulation have not yet been announced.[12] However, based on what has been released, Novel’s work was named by The Huffington Post as one of the Top 30 Most Underrated Innovations of 2010, and hailed by the reporter as, "by far one of the most exciting things (though sadly still in concept stage) that I’ve ever heard of."[4]
References
- ^ New York Times - Can Main Street Win Business Plan Competitions
- ^ "Venture Beat - Novel will jump from games to business simulations". http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/19/novel-will-jump-from-games-to-business-simulations/.
- ^ "Fast Company - Novel Is Bridging the Business and Gaming Worlds With "Empire & State"". http://www.fastcompany.com/1718829/bridging-the-gaming-world-with-business-simulations.
- ^ a b c "Huffington Post - The 30 Most Underrated Innovations of 2010". http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-wong/the-30-most-underrated-in_b_810269.html.
- ^ "Novel - Executive Team". http://www.novelincorporated.com/team/executive-team/.
- ^ "Seattle Times - Developing games to be played at work". The Seattle Times. 16 January 2011. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013940931_btinterface17.html.
- ^ "Novel - Divisions". http://www.novelincorporated.com/divisions/.
- ^ a b "MMORPG - Empire & State Overview and Recent Content". http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/571/Empire-State.html.
- ^ "MMORPG - Empire & State: Novel, Inc. Interview". http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/571/feature/4967.
- ^ a b "Seattle Business Magazine - UW Business School Ties Up With Game Maker". http://seattlebusinessmag.com/blog/uw-business-school-ties-game-maker.
- ^ "Xconomy - With UW Partnership, Novel Moves a Step Closer to "The Matrix" for Businesses". http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2010/12/15/with-uw-partnership-novel-moves-a-step-closer-to-%E2%80%9Cthe-matrix%E2%80%9D-for-businesses/.
- ^ "Xconomy - Novel, Backed by Vancouver VCs, Uses Gaming Tech to Make Business Simulations for Companies". http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2010/06/10/novel-backed-by-vancouver-vcs-uses-gaming-tech-to-create-multiplayer-business-simulations/.
Categories:- Companies based in Redmond, Washington
- Video game companies of the United States
- Companies established in 2009
- Video game developers
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