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May 24, 2006
One Problem With The Videogame Biz
There are a bunch of movies that don't have videogame titles.... too much money involved and if the movie stiffs, the game is likely to as well. And of course, it takes years of lead time.
So when Snakes on a Plane, which seems like the most obvious dark horse videogame idea of the summer, arrives in August, don’t expect a game. If there is enough box office or clamor, maybe there will be one next summer.
But as I was watching Randy Johnson struggle against the BoSox just now, there was an ad or X-Men – The Official Game Of The Film. And what am I seeing? Nightcrawler, who is not in the new film, and The Statue of Liberty… not in the new film.
As it turns out, they are selling this game as a step between the second X-Men film and the new one. There are materials from the new film and some kind of explanation about Nightcrawler’s absence. But this has to be an afterthought. Looks to me like they are just on a production time delay, much like the Lord of the Rings games which all came out late.
It’s the same problem with movie execs trying to follow trends. There is just too long a delay from concept to screen to keep up with the culture wars. Thus the release of Superman Returns: The Videogame just in time to match the release of the… DVD… in November or so.
Posted by poland at May 24, 2006 04:57 PM
Comments
When I interviewed Zak Penn, he told me that part of the point of the game is to explain what happens with Nightcrawler so that he isn't in the new movie.... there is something that bothered me about the gameplay of Iceman in the game, but that may be a spoiler for the movie.
Posted by: EDouglas ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 24, 2006 07:50 PM
The money spent on games is often recouped on games based on either kid's films (specifically CGI animated films) and sci-fi action stuff, though. Even though they're almost always sub-par games that are rushed through development (a quality game usually requires at least two years to make, with some games clocking in with half-decade development cycles), they do lots of business.
Some examples: The Madagascar game wound up making revenues of almost 50 million dollars across all platforms, and the Star Wars Episode III game was one of the best-selling games of last year, and made almost 100 million for LucasArts, which is far, far more than it cost to make, as anyone who played it could tell you. The Incredibles game made almost 80 million.
Obviously those are all for successful films, so your point about the game financials being tied in with film financials is true. Still, though, you can make a tie-in game for a few million bucks and people will buy it, especially for the kid's films, no matter what the quality level is. It looks like the average game tie-in makes around a quarter of the film's gross in sales...that's pretty impressive. I'm pretty sure all of the games I mentioned were released more or less simultaneously with the films, though.
Posted by: matro at May 24, 2006 08:23 PM
Video Game successes is the sole reason for the existence of GHOST RIDER.. who wouldn't want to play some dude with flaming skull on a devil harley. Its greenlight was simply a Need for Speed in Hell.
Posted by: Jeffrey Boam's Doctor at May 24, 2006 09:57 PM
Hollywood and the game companies get closer every year.
There are a few examples where the game outshines the film . . . e.g., The Chronicles of Riddick prequel game was fantastic and easily stood on its own.
The Enter the Matrix game is one of the most notorious for bilking fans by giving them a shoddy gaming experience. Hell, execs even blamed a crappy Tomb Raider game for hurting the box office of the second film.
The big kick right now seems to be making games based on old film properties. The Thing, From Russia with Love, and The Godfather have already been released. Scarface and Dirty Harry are in development.
Posted by: Krazy Eyes at May 25, 2006 06:39 AM
yep, older gamers want to play their favorite movies. I buddy of mine has both The Warriors and The Godfather games, and can't wait for Scarface.
Posted by: brack at May 25, 2006 09:49 AM
I meant to say "A buddy of mine"
Posted by: brack at May 25, 2006 09:50 AM
The interesting thing about the Matrix game experience is that the studio touted it bigtime and made the game accessible to the press, saying that it was a breakthrough. None of the movie press cared enough to play enough to be dissapointed.
Posted by: David Poland at May 25, 2006 11:27 AM
Very nice article. thanks...
Posted by: oyun at February 28, 2009 07:30 AM
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