In the past EA was a big contributor to licensed videogames. Some recent EA movie licensed games include the Godfather titles, numerous James Bond games, and Batman Begins. In an interview with Develop, Gibeau was asked why EA seems to be moving away from this aspect of business that they were so heavily involved with only a few years ago, specifically the James Bond franchise, and he responded:

The above was in reference to the James Bond franchise, and while Gibeau makes a very interesting and valid point, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. On November 16th EA released the movie tie-in for the latest Harry Potter movie, Deathy Hallows Part 1, and it is sitting comfortably below his 75-rated threshold on Metacritc. Now whether or not his above words were in response to that game’s reception or just another example of one side of EA talking while the other does the opposite remains to be seen. Just like with Medal of Honor, the marketing side was putting out commercials stating that Call of Duty should watch out, while the other was saying the game was lacking quality.

“Considering the total amount of money we have to spend on those types of James Bond games, and the total amount of man-hours we had to put into them, we thought; hell, let’s work on our own IP. The guys who made James Bond games for us, well yeah, they went on and made Dead Space.”

If you do look at his words and take them for what they are without the shadow of EA behind them, the points he makes sound very true. It is hard enough making an original IP, and I imagine making something based off another form of media would be difficult. Multiple groups saying how things should be, rules on how things should work, royalties to be payed, and limited time frames are probably the reasons why we see so very few good movie games. I do agree that I would rather see a Dead Space 2 than another licensed game from EA. At least they understand that people want a quality experience other than just a recognized name on a box.

What do you think of games based on movies, and Giebeau’s quote?

Source: Develop