Bigpoint teams with Fox to develop Ice Age Online

MMO giant Bigpoint is teaming up with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products to develop an online, browser-based game centered around hit motion picture franchise Ice Age.

The new Ice Age Online will be a free-to-play browser game that will give fans a new way to experience the entertaining prehistoric storylines.  Fans will have access to the most popular characters and settings from the films.

“We’re excited to work with one of the most successful film franchises of all time,” said Bigpoint founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz. “We’re equally happy to begin working with Fox on this project and are eager to give Ice Age fans another way to enjoy the fun they’ve had at the movies.”

In Ice Age Online, players assume the role of a sloth that recently discovered the perfect place for animals from the herd to live.  Along the way, the herd gets separated and lost. Players must rescue the lost animals and build up a camp for them to live.  In the adventure mode, players collect precious acorns and construction materials – such as wood, flowers, coconuts, and mud – from locations based on the film franchise, including Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth animated film from the franchise releasing from Twentieth Century Fox in theaters in 3D July 2012. Acorns and materials are used to build camps for the rescued animals to live.

“Video games and film have an organic connection, and the online game space offers virtually limitless creative opportunities to extend the cinematic experience and the Ice Age brand,” said Jeffrey Godsick, President of Fox Consumer Products. “Bigpoint, the market-leading pioneer among online video game companies, is the natural choice for us to partner with in building the world of Ice Age Online.”

The game will include customizable options for each player's sloth character.  Options will include gender, color and fur combinats, special haircuts, headdresses, and clothing.  As an online game it will have your standard social features like friends lists, activity trackers, leaderboards, and the ability to challenge other players.

No exact date was announced, but the game will launch alongside the film premiere of Ice Age: Continental Drift which is due out in theaters in July 2012.