page_title: Runaway: A Road Adventure
section_title: International breakthrough
hierarchical_section_title: Runaway: A Road Adventure / Distribution and sales / International breakthrough
context_page_description: Runaway: A Road Adventure is a 2001 graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by Dinamic Multimedia. It follows the story of Brian Basco, an American college student on the run after he unwittingly prevents the New York Mafia from assassinating a murder witness named Gina Timmins. Searching for clues about a mysterious crucifix linked to the murder, Brian and Gina embark on a cross-country journey through the United States while pursued by two Mafia hitmen. The player assumes the role of Brian and explores the game world while collecting items, solving puzzles and conversing with non-player characters.
  Inspired by the road movie genre and films such as Pulp Fiction and Raising Arizona, Pendulo Studios began Runaway in 1998. The team abandoned the nonlinear and parodical nature of its previous title, Hollywood Monsters, in favor of a more straightforward and adult-oriented approach that blended humor with drama. Runaway initially featured hand-drawn 2D graphics; production problems necessitated a switch, one year into development, to pre-rendered 3D characters with toon shading.
context_section_description: Pendulo Studios finally secured the rights to Runaway in July 2002. The game appeared in Russia, published by Russobit-M, in early August. Later that month, Pendulo announced that the German-language edition of Runaway had been revived. Its publisher was revealed as DTP Entertainment in early September, by which time the game was set for a November launch across the German market: Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The German translation had been completed and its dubbing work started by mid-September. Retailer pre-orders in the German market quickly surpassed DTP's forecasts. For the Czech edition, Pendulo signed with TOP Distributor, the publisher that Dinamic Multimedia had originally contracted to bring Runaway to the Czech Republic. Pendulo and TOP began their translation effort before the rights issue was resolved, via an under-the-table agreement, and the publisher received its first Czech-language beta edition in June 2002. The Czech translation took four months; dubbing was completed in October. Runaway's German and Czech versions both went gold in November, and releases followed on November 18 and in early December, respectively.
  DTP Entertainment supported Runaway in Germany with a heavy marketing campaign that characterized the game as "the return of the classic adventure", according to the publisher's Chris Kellner. At the time, adventure games were perceived in countries such as Germany and France as a declining genre. Runaway debuted at #9 on GfK's weekly computer game sales charts for the German market, and spent five consecutive months in Media Control's top 30. The game's sales in the German market surpassed 50,000 units within a year, ultimately climbing to 60,000. Kellner declared it "a huge success" for the publisher. Following Runaway's debut in Germany, Pendulo landed deals in December 2002 to release the game in three more countries: France, with Focus Home Interactive; Poland, with TopWare Interactive; and the United Kingdom, with GMX Media. All three were slated for spring 2003. Like DTP, Focus Home publicly labeled Runaway "the return" of traditional graphic adventure games. The company's Cédric Lagarrigue later said that his team had "a huge desire to revive" the genre, and that they believed Runaway could do so.
  Runaway's worldwide spread continued throughout the early part of 2003. By February, Pendulo had signed contracts with Comgame 576 and FX Interactive to ship the game in Hungary and Italy, respectively. Agreements emerged in March to localize Runaway in Holland, Belgium and North America—the third through Tri Synergy. In France, Focus Home backed the game with a large financial investment in hopes of securing a hit. Two members of the firm Words of Magic oversaw the French translation and dub, which included the French voice actors for Cameron Diaz, Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Words of Magic finished the localization within two months, in the process adding jokes and references specific to France, alongside new hints for certain puzzles. Runaway appeared in France on March 21. Initial sales were strong: the game reached #3 on GfK's French charts, and it remained in the top 20 through July. Runaway ultimately maintained a six-month streak on GfK's list. Similarly, Fnac reported Runaway as its third best-selling game across all platforms during April's first half, and it continued to chart in the store's top 30 through the end of May. In August, Lagarrigue called Runaway a major hit for his company.
  While securing these international deals, Pendulo worked in late 2002 and early 2003 on a remastered Spanish version of Runaway, this time published by FX Interactive. In early 2002, the two companies had collaborated on a re-release of Hollywood Monsters. Changes to the remastered Runaway included a new box cover by Luis Royo, increased video quality, added hints for difficult puzzles, a new voice-over for Gina—redubbed by the actress who voiced Angelina Jolie in Spain—and other updates. Pendulo and FX announced the remastered version in January 2003. Latiegui stated that the new edition's "m
caption: DTP Entertainment and Focus Home Interactive characterized Runaway as a revival of traditional graphic adventure games—like the earlier Flight of the Amazon Queen (pictured)—that were seen at the time as a declining genre in countries such as France and Germany.
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