A game where players bend it like Beckham

Leading figures from media, advertising, computer games and the City are joining forces to develop what they claim will be a unique, football-based computer game.

We R Interactive, whose chairman is the former Merrill Lynch and Citigroup analyst Richard Dale, will today unveil I am Playr, a game set in the world of football, which puts players in the boots of a professional at the fictional River Park FC.

Makers of the game, which will go on sale in January, say that it will “sit in the space where the computer game and film industry meet”. It allows gamers to make training and lifestyle decisions on behalf of the players whose boots they occupy.

Scenes for the game were shot last month and the company hired professional actors to appear in parts that include a celebrity girlfriend for the footballer, his team-mates, his coach and even a rival coach, who was described in the casting notes as “José Mourinho with a bit of Fabio”.

We R Interactive was co-founded by six business people all of whom have worked in computer gaming, advertising and marketing. They include David Rose, one of the UK gaming industry’s most experienced figures, who previously worked for Sony and Eidos. There is also Tom Thirlwall, co-founder of Bigballs Films, which has produced the footage featured in the game.

Mr Rose said that We R Interactive was setting out to raise the quality of social games to meet the expectations of “an audience raised on PlayStation and high-quality serialised drama”.

He added: “Like many of the best products, I am Playr is an ingenious execution of a simple concept. Our approach yields the high quality that the user expects but with tremendous commercial opportunities. With I am Playr we are splicing film and game. Film gives us the ability to build characters and bring a more visceral feel to the interactive experience.”

“Steven Spielberg said: ‘I think the real indicator will be when somebody confesses that they cried at Level 17.’ With I am Playr, we are about to achieve just that.”

We R Interactive has a strong list of financial backers with plenty of City experience. Apart from Mr Dale, they include Eric Fellner, the co-founder of Working Title Films, Fru Hazlitt, the former chief executive of the radio broadcaster GCap Media and now head of ITV’s sales operations, and Peter Mead, co-founder of Abbot Mead Vickers, the advertising group.

Mr Fellner said: “This is a very exciting space in media right now. I am Playr shows what the next generation of entertainment looks like.”