Licenced Games, The Path To Rags Or Riches?

I read with interest this morning the plans for the new game based on the TV series "Lost". The idea of spinning of a TV series or movie is not new to the industry but we have come a long way since the early attempts at licenced products.

The pioneers of licenced product were the publishers Elite and Ocean Software way back in the early 1980s in the days when I was earning a living making games for the Spectrum and Commodore 64. Initially the fledgling games industry saw TV/movie adapation as a licence to make money. I remember visiting Ocean Software in Manchester on a social visit to an executive there who was a friend. His main topic of conversation over lunch was the acquisition of various properties including Knight Rider, Streethawk, the Stallone movie "Cobra" and a whole range of popular television releases of the day.

It was made clear to me in no uncertain terms that all that mattered was the box art and the game would fly off the shelves. To that end nearly all of these games was the exact same platform game with a rework of some graphics! This strategy worked for a while but it never pays to underestimate the consumer! Revenues started to nosedive and the largest entertainment publisher of the day was brought to its knees by a public demanding quality tie-ins that had real relevence to the subject matter. As a publisher Ocean never quite recovered and were later absorbed by Infogrames. Conversely, Elite Software, who generally made a real effort with their tie-ins did very nicely with products such as Airwolf, Blue Thunder and The Fall Guy.

With the advent of the 1990s the entertainment studios suddenly realised the value of their properties and started charging gaming publishers vast sums for a licence. One poorly implemented licence could make or break a software publisher who had bet their shirt on the latest tie-in! In some ways this was good for the consumer, as developers we had to do everything in our power to create a quality product to keep the wolves from the door.

During the development of Alien Vs Predator in the early 1990s I spent over six months researching both movies, speaking with key creative people in the cinema industry and watching the movies more times than I can remember. I had no choice, the product had to deliver the "look and feel" of the iconic Alien and Predator. My publisher, Atari, had pinned the success of their new Jaguar console on this key licence. It had to be developed convincingly or Atari might be heading down river, towards the rapids without a paddle.

In the end, I felt that I did justice to the licence, delivering a product that provided solid entertainment and an accuracy to the original source material that would delight both the casual player and hardcore Alien fan. I was pleased with the result. Little did I know at the time that the console was doomed to failure. I had provided the paddles, but for a leaky boat!

I wish the developers of "Lost" all the very best as they juggle the balls of licencing fees, managing expectations of hardcore fans of the series, providing a quality game for the gamer and hopefully deriving a revenue that warranted the whole effort. For the consumer a licenced game can be great, for the developer they can be your worst nightmare!

Anklesock

Bookmark/Search this post with:
delicious | digg | technorati