Rebellion acquires Solaris

PRESS RELEASE:

2^nd September 2009

REBELLION ACQUIRES SOLARIS IMPRINT FROM GAMES WORKSHOP

This week, Rebellion, Europe’s leading independent games developer and owner of the iconic comic 2000 AD and sci-fi and fantasy imprint Abaddon Books, completed the acquisition of the Solaris book publishing imprint from Games Workshop for an undisclosed sum.

This well-known and highly successful brand offers a mixture of new and traditional science fiction, fantasy and horror books and has many bestselling titles from both upcoming and established names such as Brian Lumley, Gail Z. Martin, Eric Brown and Simon R. Green, amongst others.

Solaris will sit alongside, and be run in parallel with, Rebellion’s own Abaddon Books.

Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion said, “We’ve been aware of the Solaris imprint for some years now and have admired its success with fantastic stories and great writers. Acquiring Solaris will allow us to continue to push our publishing trajectory upwards and expand the quantity, whilst maintaining the quality, of all our titles.”

George Mann, Games Workshop’s Head of Publishing said, “We’re delighted that Solaris has found a new home with Rebellion. After a period of fantastic growth with our Games Workshop related titles, we decided the time was right for us to focus all of our attention on our Black Library imprint. We’re sure Rebellion will now take Solaris forward to even greater heights.”

Rebellion has also entered into a sales and distribution agreement with Simon and Schuster. Under the agreement, Simon & Schuster will continue to handle sales, distribution and fulfilment of all Solaris titles for all new and backlist titles to trade and specialty accounts. The agreement is effective August 31st, 2009.

Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

For more information, visit our website www.simonandschuster.com

Distribution for Solaris will continue to be represented by Simon and Schuster.

www.solarisbooks.com

Editor’s notes

Solaris Books

Acquired by Rebellion Group in 2009, the ethos of Solaris is to publish a mix of new and traditional science fiction and fantasy books for fans of these genres. It also aims to fill the ever-widening gap that has appeared between the large mass-market publishers and the small genre press in the American and British scene. But more than anything, Solaris exists to publish fantastic books by great authors, and to bring to the readers’ attention a plethora of exciting new stories and novels.

Website: www.solarisbooks.com

Rebellion^®

The UK-based computer games super-developer was established in 1992 by brothers Jason and Chris Kingsley. Their first major success was Alien Vs. Predator on Atari Jaguar for Atari in 1995. This was followed by Aliens Vs. Predator on PC in 1999, creating game innovations years ahead of their time. Rebellion’s approach to game production is focused primarily on cross-platform innovation and product quality. Their purchase of the UK sci-fi comic 2000 AD in 2000 and subsequent motion picture productions has provided valuable insight and experience in creating its unique product portfolio.

In 2005, Sniper Elite was released, securing critical acclaim, global sales success and winning the TIGA Award for Best PC/Console Game 2005. Lauded as ‘The Gran Turismo of war games’ by the gaming press, it has built upon the collection of Rebellion owned IPs, which includes Free Running, Evil Genius and the 2000 AD characters Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper.

In 2006 Rebellion purchased the Core Design studios, responsible for the Lara Croft – Tomb Raider series and Strangelite studios in Liverpool. These acquisitions established the company as one of the biggest and most innovative studios within the European development community.

Rebellion won Best Programming and Most Improved Developer at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards, has five BAFTA nominations and won three TIGA Awards for Best Developer, Best Game and Best Handheld/Console Game.

Rebellion created The Simpsons Game with EA on Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with EA on PSP, Star Wars: Renegade Squadron with LucasArts on PSP, Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem with Sierra on PSP and finally Rebellion’s own brand Free Running with Reef Entertainment on PlayStation 2 and PSP.

More recently Rebellion’s long-awaited move to the purpose built studio in Oxford happened along with announcements of Rogue Warrior for Bethesda, further work for Lucasarts on the Star Wars brand, together with the release of the world wide number 1 hit Call of Duty: World at War: Final Fronts. Finally Rebellion is working on Aliens Vs Predator for Sega which is planned for release in early 2010.

Website: www.rebellion.co.uk

For further press information relating to the above, please contact:

Charlotte Grafton-Chuck

Rebellion Ltd.

Tel: +44(0) 1865 792 201

Email: press@rebellion.co.uk