Producer Gail Katz (Air Force One, The Perfect Storm) has officially acquired the film and TV rights to one of the most popular games out there right now, The Settlers of Catan.

The best selling multiplayer strategy game was created by Klaus Teuber and has sold over 22 million board versions worldwide in 30 languages and 50 countries. It also has seen over 1.6 billion downloads.

The Settlers of Catan revolves around players creating a dominant society on the fictional island of Catan by outwitting opponents amidst the competition for the island’s scarce resources.

Gail Katz has said, “I’ve been. wanting to see an adaptation of the game for years, ever since my Catan-obsessed college-aged kids introduced me to it. The island of Catan is a vivid, visual, exciting and timeless world with classic themes and moral challenges that resonate today.  There is a tremendous opportunity to take what people love about the game and its mythology as a starting point for the narrative.”

The game is not only popular on college campuses, but has a huge fan base in Silicon Valley and has been featured in Wired and The New Yorker. A recent Wall Street Journal article revealed how the Green Bay Packers are obsessed with the game.

Katz’s next film is Pawn Sacrifice which will be released later this year by Bleecker Street. The film is directed by Edward Zwick. It’s a Cold War drama based on the life of enigmatic chess legend Bobby Fischer. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg.