Random House to launch free-to-play online narrative game in May

Book publisher Random House is set to launch Black Crown in May, a free-to-play online narrative game featuring microtransactions to unlock DLC and additional story strands.

Random House will unveil the author of the StoryNexus-based game post-launch. Dan Franklin from Random House tells The Bookseller that the project will run for a year if it meets performance expectations, with a possibility of a book or an e-book release in the future.

The project is a collaboration with FailBetter Games, the developers of the interactive story platform, StoryNexus. Extra features were developed by Cambridge-based Popleaf, the studio behind the A Clockwork Orange app.

Players are invited to register their interest and create a new character on Black Crown's official website.