By Chua Hian Hou

SINGAPORE's video games industry has scored a coup, with Italian animation studio Rainbow putting $25 million in a new gaming unit here to create a virtual world based on its popular Winx Club fantasy franchise - the biggest investment in this sector here so far.

Its Singapore studio, said Rainbow's chief exective officer Iginio Straffi at a media briefing on Monday, is expected to have about 100 full-time staff onboard by 2011. So far, Rainbow's studio at Smith Street has 12 staff, half of them Singaporeans.

Its upcoming game is expected to have a 'multiplier effect' - it will also create jobs for another 200 people like external freelance artists, said Mr Straffi.

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