Los Angeles - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount Pictures has formed a new division in its interactive department to fund the development of video games based on its films, Variety reports.

The studio will either fully finance game development, or seek contributions from outside investors, and intends to place special focus on less expensive to produce casual and mobile games.

Paramount named Matt Candler, who has worked at Grind Games, Seven Studios and Activision, as vice president of interactive development.

"We are entering into deals now where we will be publishing games this year," Sandi Isaacs, Paramount's SVP of interactive and mobile, told Variety.

"There's going to be a slate where in some cases we're publishing, in some cases we're co-publishing, or in others we're funding development and another publisher buys it. It's important for us to have a flexible model."

MTV, which is also owned by Viacom, announced last year that it will invest $500 million in video games over the next two years.

Before Paramount, Warner Bros. was the first studio to create an in-house division for game publishing, according to Variety.

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