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Press release:
April 9th 2020, Liverpool, United Kingdom – Ripstone Games, in collaboration with Lab42 and official snooker governing body WST, today revealed that they will be hosting a Virtual World Snooker Championship in “Snooker 19“.

With the Betfred World Snooker Championship postponed due to COVID-19, players at home are missing out on the sport’s biggest event of the year. This is where the Virtual Betfred World Snooker Championship steps in!

The virtual tournament will run on the original tournament dates and will feature the 16 best pro snooker players in the world; represented by top players from the Snooker 19 community.

The Virtual Betfred World Championship will see competitors battling for the title between April 18 and May 4 at the simulated Crucible Theatre and the winner of the event will be invited to the Crucible during the real-world tournament to be presented with the Virtual Betfred World Championship trophy.

This is a once in a lifetime experience to be crowned snooker champion in the world-famous arena, followed by the chance to watch a series of live matches first hand. The prize package also includes a cue signed by the world’s top snooker players.

All matches will be broadcast on WST’s YouTube and Facebook channels and tournament participants will be seeded according to the current world rankings, with the draw as follows:

Judd Trump (1) v Yan Bingtao (16)
Kyren Wilson (8) v Shaun Murphy (9)
Mark Allen (5) v Jack Lisowski (12)
John Higgins (4) v Stuart Bingham (13)
Mark Williams (3) v Stephen Maguire (14)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (6) v David Gilbert (11)
Mark Selby (7) v Ding Junhui (10)
Neil Robertson (2) v Barry Hawkins (15)

The line-up of Snooker 19 players to represent each of the top stars will be announced shortly, along with the schedule of matches.

A spokesman for WST said: “Snooker fans around the world will be missing our sport’s biggest tournament later this month, but this could be the next best thing, especially for anyone who loves video games.”

“It’s a chance to get behind your favourite player, follow the action every day and marvel at the skills of the best exponents of Snooker 19.”

Snooker19, developed by Lab42, was released last year as the first official WST video game in a generation and received widespread acclaim, as the most true-to-life snooker game ever made.

Hollie Pattison from Ripstone, the publisher of Snooker 19 added: “We are really looking forward to hosting the Virtual Betfred World Championship in Snooker 19 and we hope to bring some joy to everybody watching from home at this difficult time.

This is a world first and we expect the standard of play from the 16 participants to be incredibly impressive, so we should have some great matches to look forward to.”

Snooker 19 Is the most realistic simulation of snooker ever seen. Players can choose to take their best shot as part of an in-depth single-player Career Mode, an array of local and online multiplayer modes or jump online to master every official tournament on the World Snooker calendar.

With 128 of the world’s best players to choose from, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui, every major tournament is represented in the lead up to the coveted World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield; the home of snooker in the UK.

What the critics are saying:

Pocket Gamer – “Playing Snooker 19 just feels right”

Eurogamer – “Snooker 19 looks like the best snooker video game in a good long while.”

Kotaku UK – “Snooker 19 plays like the real deal: a great-looking recreation with an interface that can be used quickly, and all the modes any pot-fancier could ask for.”

God is a Geek – “May very well be the game you’ve been waiting for.”

About World Snooker
World Snooker is the commercial entity responsible for the commercial exploitation and promotion of professional snooker events across the world and is the custodian of the sport’s commercial rights.

About Ripstone Games
Ripstone® is a global independent video games label founded in 2011 by game and film industry veterans. They fully fund the development, distribution and marketing of video games made by elite creative teams. They have financed and published 17 games across 45 SKUs, with global sales of over 10 million units.

Ripstone’s back catalogue includes Ironcast, Stick It To The Man, Pure Pool, Pure Hold’em and Chess Ultra. At their home in Liverpool, England they also have a world-class internal development team, whose credits include Plague Inc, Chess Ultra and The Spectrum Retreat.

The whole company focuses on providing a total, personal support service for developers, empowering them to make the very best PC and console games, ensuring gamers know about them, then rewarding the teams for success. They are particularly noted for their outstanding ability to nurture new and small developers. www.ripstone.com

About Lab42
Lab42 is a video game development studio based in the heart of Royal Leamington Spa. A subsidiary of You42, Inc. and part of the Kiz Studios family Lab42 is an experienced video games and entertainment developer.

Lab42’s network works closely across three locations building original and licensed IP alongside collaborating with publishers and developers around the world on a wide variety of titles, shipping numerous flagship titles on PC and Nintendo Switch. www.lab42.games