Random House UK has made its first venture into online gaming with the release of the Black Crown Project, by new author Rob Sherman.

The project is free to play with micropayments for additions to the game, where players will join the 'shady' Widsith Institute as clerks before finding out about mysterious figures, going on journeys and uncovering a criminal organisation. Random House digital publisher Dan Franklin said the new project represents Random House's ambition to 'push the boundaries' and 'experiment with new business models'.