The old model of poor-quality titles rushed into stores is broken. Now players want the highest-quality games, which are more expensive and take longer to make, resulting in fewer releases
The romance between Hollywood and the video game industry is hitting the skids.
A few years ago, game publishers were regularly releasing video games adapted from movies and tied to their opening in theaters. The games were routinely knocked by players and critics alike for their poor quality, but since they were cheap to produce and rode the coattails of a film's marketing budget, the business was a no-brainer for video game companies.
"There was a business model for some time of low-cost, lower-quality games based on movies that sold enough to earn a return," said Graham Hopper, executive vice president of Disney Interactive Studios, Walt Disney Corp.'s video game division.
Now movie-based video games have become a head-scratcher.
As the game industry gathers in Los Angeles this week to show off its upcoming titles at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, movie-based games are few and far between. In 2008, 19 video games based on new movies were released. Last year, there were 15. This year, 11. So far only four games based on movies have been announced for 2011, though at least four more are expected.
Such 2010 summer popcorn movies as "Robin Hood," "The A-Team," "Knight & Day," "Inception," and "Salt" probably would have had video games in the past but are going without them this year.
The reason: Games are more expensive and taking longer to make, raising the sales bar necessary for profit at the same time that consumers are saving their money for the highest-quality titles. As a result, publishers have cut back on production and are focusing on properties they own.
"The movie-based games business the way we have known it is broken," said Martin Tremblay, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Quality is king now and quality is expensive, so it makes more sense than ever to own your intellectual property instead of paying for a license".
Top-quality video games typically take two to three years to make, significantly longer than a movie. As a result, when games are put into production at the same time as a film, they usually have to be rushed to make the companion project's release date: The resulting game is often short on content, lacking in production value, or both.
