The film Avatar is doing exceptionally well. It picked up some Golden Globes last night and now people are even talking about it as an Oscar contender – and it’s still a sci-fi game.
The problem may be with the Avatar computer game. The one created by Ubisoft. The one that cost the French games house a large fortune in licensing fees.
I’m told it’s not very good – but do you know what; I just don’t buy movie franchise games. Experience has taught me that they’re always a disappointment. Golden Eye may be the exception which proves the rule.
Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s CEO, has been telling investors that things need to change;
“The goal is to reduce the investment in licenses, and put more emphasis on making our brands bigger and to release them more often, with very high quality,
“It doesn’t mean we will stop, but we are going to spend less on licenses in the future.”
There’s a particular problem with the timing of movie releases that Guillemot, rightly, picks up on;
“It will be difficult in the future to buy rights to a movie that comes in December, because it’s too risky, and it cannot capitalise on Christmas sales. It doesn’t work as well for a video game company.”
Now there’s a challenge for film companies – aim for a lucrative spot over Christmas and risk loosing out on a successful games franchise or release early, score the games deal and boost not only your licensing deals but seed the longer-lasting game interest to boost your sequel chances.
