Edmondson brothers' Thumbstar moves into China

Video game industry veterans Gareth and Martin Edmondson have struck a deal that will enable their mobile games company, Thumbstar, to distribute games in China, whilst protecting IP copyright.

Thumbstar, the mobile games publisher, developer and distributor run by Gareth and Martin Edmondson, today announced that it has negotiated an agreement with Viva Red Limited and China Telecom to begin distributing Java and smartphone games in China.

China Telecom is one of the world’s largest mobile phone operators with over 130 million subscribers and a growth rate of 3 million users per month.

In a press release, Thumbstar CEO, Gareth Edmondson said:

"Our direct partnership with Viva Red Limited and China Telecom delivers a secure route to a previously unmapped and unprotected market. The terms of this landmark deal will enable developers across the globe to leverage existing and future IPs to a content-hungry audience, with the peace of mind that this state-backed partnership can provide the necessary copyright protection to encourage further market growth.”

Thumbstar was established in 2008 as an aggregator and publisher of mobile games. The firm now has internal development teams and offices in the UK, the Americas and Asia. It distributes games on all major mobile platforms, including BlackBerry, iOS, Android, and Windows phone.

Martin Edmondson is chief creative officer of Thumbstar, he previously established Reflections Interactive which later became Ubisoft Reflections Ltd and is best known for its development of the Driver series.

Gareth Edmondson worked with his brother at Reflections before leaving in 2011 and taking the role of Thumbstar CEO.