Licensed Games
Brand recognition as business model
The phenomenon of video games based on films, TV shows, and other media, which funded much of the industry despite wildly varying quality from masterpieces to disasters.
Licensed games are video games based on existing media properties—films, TV shows, comics, toys. This business model funded much of the gaming industry, as brand recognition guaranteed sales regardless of quality. Results ranged from masterpieces like GoldenEye to disasters like E.T.
How the deal was structured
The licence was bought before there was a film to licence. Ocean was “regularly receiving scripts from Hollywood”, and
the ability to seal licensing deals during a film’s pre-production gave Ocean the space to release a tie-in game at the same time as the movie’s cinema or home release — a potentially lucrative marketing opportunity.
RoboCop shows how inventive this could get. Ocean bought the rights from Orion Pictures, “then sublet the licence to Japanese studio Data East, which turned it into an arcade game. Ocean then exercised its option to convert that game over to home computers in the West.” Ocean licensed out so that somebody else would build the arcade version, then converted its own sub-licensee’s work back for the home market. “It sold in record numbers, and the ZX Spectrum version topped the charts for a year.”
Owning the licence meant owning the reference. Where a straight arcade converter had no access to the original, Ocean could ship its programmer the machine. Peter Johnson, working from home on the ST and Amiga versions, was sent “the Data East arcade game supplied by Ocean, built into a handy portable suitcase, alongside a finished build of the Spectrum version.”
And the schedule cut both ways. “Ocean got their 3D tie-in game of RoboCop 3 out first when the film was delayed” — the tie-in reached the shops before the thing it tied in to.
The decline had a stated cause: “shrinking to meet film release schedules, the quality of the games dipped in the mid-nineties”, with Batman Forever and Street Fighter: The Movie — “a game adapted from a movie based on its own arcade hit” — named as the games that “lowered the bar significantly”.
Fast facts
- Era: 1980s-present
- Purpose: Brand recognition sells units
- Quality: Wildly variable
- Key publishers: Ocean, LJN, Konami, Capcom
- Challenge: Film release deadlines
The business model
| Party | Role |
|---|---|
| License holder | Film studio, TV network |
| Publisher | Paid license fee |
| Developer | Made game (often underfunded) |
| Retailer | Stocked based on brand |
Why Quality Varied
| Success Factor | Failure Factor |
|---|---|
| Adequate time | Film release deadline |
| Talented developer | Lowest bidder |
| Creative freedom | License restrictions |
| Genre fit | Forced mismatch |
Notable Successes
| Game | Why It Worked |
|---|---|
| GoldenEye 007 | Rare given 2+ years |
| DuckTales | Capcom quality |
| TMNT Arcade | Konami expertise |
| Aladdin | Disney animator involvement |
Notable Failures
| Game | Why It Failed |
|---|---|
| E.T. | 5-week development |
| Superman 64 | License restrictions |
| Most LJN games | Outsourced, rushed |
The Deadline Problem
Movie tie-ins faced immovable deadlines:
- Game must ship with film
- Development often started late
- Crunch endemic
- Quality sacrificed for date
Legacy
Licensed games taught the industry that brand recognition provides temporary sales but reputation damage accumulates. The best licensed games proved that quality and licenses weren’t mutually exclusive—they just required proper investment.