PARIS, December 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Now fans of the popular free-to-play game can connect with their favorite 7-time GRAMMY Award Winners as they sing their way into the latest holiday update

Gameloft, Capitol Records Nashville and GRAMMY winning country music trio Lady Antebellum have announced a global partnership to celebrate the country artist's latest holiday album, On This Winter's Night, by offering content to players of the popular western frontier themed city-builder The Oregon Trail: American Settler for a limited-time only.

Available now on both the App Store and Google Play, the latest The Oregon Trail: American Settler update allows players the opportunity to interact with Lady Antebellum in a whole new way by featuring the trio of band members, including Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood, as new in-game quest givers. After being tasked to build a brand new "Concert Hall," players are then able to watch the group's latest music videos from the new album On This Winter's Night, along with being greeted by an exclusive welcome video from the band.

The collaboration illustrates the increasingly important and popular role digital and social games are playing in the entertainment industry by providing partners with a new platform to reach consumers with new and exciting content. Whether a player is familiar with the band or not, the game provides players with the chance to discover new music through an innovative way to interact with the group, while simultaneously either creating or reinforcing a strong emotional connection between the two.

"Gameloft prides itself on being able to offer its partners a way to engage users within our games' via a holistic experience that combines all facets of a brand's universe in a coherent and motivational way," said Baudouin Corman, VP of Publishing for the Americas. "Given that Lady Antebellum is one of the most popular groups currently out there, we are thrilled to be able to work with the band to not only bring them a new channel to promote their new holiday album, but simultaneously bring our players a high-quality experience that further immerses them into the western frontier as well."

"I'm always looking for strategic branding opportunities and working with Gameloft has provided an extraordinary platform for driving consumer awareness about Lady Antebellum and the "On This Winter's Night" holiday album within a large and fast-growing digital media outlet,"  said Dawn Gates, UMG Nashville Vice President of Digital Marketing. 

Originally launched in November of 2011, The Oregon Trail: American Settler provides players with the chance to tame the wild western frontier after having conquered the long trek across the Oregon Trail. Inspired by the release of On This Winter's Night, Lady Antebellum marks the first music sensation to be integrated into an update for the game.

Lady Antebellum recently released their first full length Christmas album, On This Winter's Night, and wrapped their headlining Own The Night 2012 World Tour that was awarded Billboard's "Breakthrough Award." The tour traveled across the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, where the GRAMMY winning trio was welcomed by over one million fans in 11 countries on three continents. Lady A sold out shows in top markets including Los Angeles, Chicago, two nights in New York City, Toronto, London, three nights at Sydney's Opera House and even had a chance to open a sold out show at London's Hard Rock Calling for one of their idols Bruce Springsteen. The group's current album Own The Night debuted at the No. one position on Billboard's Top 200 and has spawned two No. one hits "We Owned The Night" and "Just A Kiss." The trio has sold over 11 million albums across the globe, scored seven GRAMMY Awards and tallied six No. one hits.

The Oregon Trail: American Settler is available now for free to download on both the App Store and/or Google Play.

Please visit http://www.Gameloft.com for more information.

About Gameloft:

A leading global publisher of digital and social games, Gameloft® has established itself as one of the top innovators in its field since 2000. Gameloft creates games for all digital platforms, including mobile phones, smartphones and tablets (including Apple® iOS and Android® devices), set-top boxes and connected TVs. Gameloft operates its own established franchises such as Asphalt®, Real Football®, Modern Combat, and N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance®, and also partners with major rights holders including Marvel®, Hasbro®, FOX®, Mattel® and Ferrari®.

Gameloft is present on all continents, distributes its games in over 100 countries and employs over 5,000 developers.

Gameloft is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN: FR0000079600, Bloomberg: GFT FP, Reuters: GLFT.PA). Gameloft's sponsored Level 1 ADR (ticker: GLOFY) is traded OTC in the US.

About Capitol Records Nashville

Capitol Records Nashville is one of Country music's most prominent imprints, having been named Label of the Year for three consecutive years by Billboard, Country Aircheck, Country Radio Seminar and Music Row.  The label is part of Universal Music Group which is the global music leader, with wholly owned operations in 60 territories. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's premier music publishing operations worldwide.

Universal Music Group's record labels include A&M/Octone, Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol Records, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Interscope Records, I.R.S., Island Records, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, Manhattan, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Music Group and Virgin Records, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalogue of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalogue is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes Global Digital Business, its new media and technologies division and Bravado, its merchandising company.

Universal Music Group is a fully owned subsidiary of Vivendi.

© 2011 HMH Consumer Company, and its affiliates and licensors. All rights reserved. The Learning Company and The Oregon Trail are registered trademarks of HMH Consumer Company. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All companies, names, and data used in sample screens, and output are fictitious and any resemblance to any person, trademark, company name, or landmark of any kind is purely coincidental.

Press Contacts:

Jessica Lewinstein
North American PR Manager for Gameloft
+1-415-265-5725
Jessica.Lewinstein@gameloft.com

UMG Nashville
Fount Lynch
+1-615-524-7848
fount.lynch@umusic.com

Lady Antebellum
Mary Hilliard Harrington/Tyne Parrish
+1-615-242-7444
maryhilliard@thegreenroompr.com / tyne@thegreenroompr.com

SOURCE Gameloft