Interactive plays Gameboy card

Retail Distributor cashes in on success in games market with expansion plans for consoles and Red Hat Linux.

Interactive Ideas, the London software distributor, is continuing itsn plans for consoles and Red Hat Linux. expansion by focusing on the games and console market.

The four-year-old distributor has met with growing success in the games area, distributing PlayStation, N64 and PC format games to more than 700 retailers. As part of its growth strategy, it has revealed that it will aggressively target the Gameboy market with an initial offering of 60 titles.

Michael Trup, managing director of Interactive Ideas, said: 'At the moment, the Gameboy is still a regular seller, but we believe the market will take off with the launch of the colour version in October, when there will be a big upsurge. My 14-year-old son also told me that the Gameboy is quite cool again - so his pocket money is riding on this.'

The games part of the business has become increasingly important to the distributor. Trup confirmed that 15 per cent of the company's business now comes from products designed for the console.

The company is also pushing Linux into the retail channel. It distributes to PC World stores and is having success with Red Hat Linux 5.1, with sales figures reported as between four and five times higher than the last release.

'Everyone at Red Hat Software is excited that Linux will be increasingly visible as a viable alternative operating system,' said Robert Young, president of Red Hat Software. 'Placement in PC World gives advanced technology users greater access to Red Hat products than previously.'

Interactive Ideas carries 2,500 lines. Its Gameboy sales for June were up 100 per cent on the same period last year.