Apple to licence Beatles games

SPECULATION IS RIFE that Apple Corps is interested in creating a video game based around the Beatles music catalogue. It's a good bet that mobile versions are in the offing, too.

According to a report in the FT, two companies are currently the front runners for getting the rights to the Beatles games – MTV Games and Activision.

The story also mentioned that Apple Corps had been approached by a number of parties "including from mobile phone carriers."

The INQ reckons it's a good bet that these approaches might be linked to the runaway success of Guitar Hero III Mobile, a game produced by Hands-On Mobile in association with Activision.

According to Hands-on the title was Verizon Wireless' best-selling mobile game during Q1 2008 and across all operators it had run up almost one million paid-for downloads.

Apparently that made Guitar Hero Mobile one of the fastest-selling releases in mobile gaming history.

So the INQ reckons that Activision is probably in there with a good chance given its current record.

Apple Corps is notoriously conservative – for example, none of its titles are available on Itunes, although Paul McCartney's solo stuff is. There are some Beatles ringtones so it must be prepared to countenance the mobile sector.

Incidentally, Guitar Hero Mobile isn't available in the UK/Europe yet although if you visit the site here. It says the game is coming soon and you can sign up for email alerts. µ