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Warner Bros. to penalize publishers for bad games based on it's licenses

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Warner Bros. to penalize publishers for bad games based on it's licenses

Old 05-26-04, 04:13 PM
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Warner Bros. to penalize publishers for bad games based on it's licenses

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05...s_6099292.html

The Matrix makers will demand higher payments from publishers who produce poorly reviewed games based on their properties.
While game reviews often have an effect on a publisher's bottom line, that effect has never been quantifiable. However, now, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment has begun directly tying royalty payments from licensees to ratings from game-review sites.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last week, WBIE senior vice president Jason Hall revealed that his company is now using review-aggregation sites such as GameRankings.com to determine royalty rates from publishers licensing properties based on Warner Bros. movie, television, or other media. If the game does not achieve an average 70-percent rating, the publisher will have to pay a penalty in the form of higher royalties.

"An escalating royalty rate kicks in to help compensate us for the brand damage that's taking place," Hall told the Reporter. "The further away from 70 percent it gets, the more expensive the royalty rate becomes. So, frankly, if the publisher delivers on what they promised--to produce a great game--it's not even an issue."

However, Warner Bros.' pricing scheme would have been a huge issue with Enter the Matrix, the best-selling game of 2003 based on a Warner Bros. title. Buoyed by prerelease enthusiasm for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, the cross-platform Enter the Matrix sold four million copies worldwide.

But those good sales were in spite of the game getting middling ratings: On game rankings, the PC and PS2 editions have an average score of 66.8 and 66.9 percent, while the GameCube and Xbox versions earned 70.6 percent and 71.5 percent. Combined, all four rankings leave an average of 68.95 percent--just short of Warner Bros.' benchmark.

Unsurprisingly, Warner's concrete benchmark is not sitting well with Bruno Bonnell, CEO and president of Atari. "[Enter the Matrix] sold $250 million worldwide," he told the Reporter, "That's what a big major motion picture makes. And Warner Bros. would penalize us because we didn't achieve 70 percent? Are they joking?"

However, Hall is adamant in his belief that WBIE's new system will help ensure quality licensed games--like Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings and James Bond-based titles--and prevent misfires such as Ubisoft's Charlie's Angels.

"The game industry has had its time to exploit movie studios all day long and to get away with producing inferior products," said Hall. "But, with Warner Brothers, no more...the bad games are over."

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 05/26/04 11:47AM PST


I actually laughed out loud at the bolded part heh. Time for publishers to stop putting licensed crap on the market.
Old 05-26-04, 04:23 PM
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Old 05-26-04, 04:24 PM
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Well then I'm going to penalize WB for getting bad reviews on their movies... in fact, if I think the movie sucks, I'm going to make them pay me 20% of the gross.
Old 05-26-04, 05:16 PM
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This worries me. This is leading down a bad path, which could lead to dishonest reviews or products not being made available to reviewers.
Old 05-26-04, 05:26 PM
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Originally posted by DRG
This worries me. This is leading down a bad path, which could lead to dishonest reviews or products not being made available to reviewers.
Dishonest reviews?!?! That would just be insane!

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/383/383421p1.html
Old 05-26-04, 06:15 PM
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Originally posted by flashburn
Dishonest reviews?!?! That would just be insane!

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/383/383421p1.html


There will always be dishonest reviews unfortunately DRG, that's why you go by a percentage of a lot of reviews so at least the dishonest ones don't effect the overall score as much.


No reason to worry about publishers not sending games out to reviewers to be reviewed, because that happens already some of the time, heh. The review sites usually just buy a retail copy to review.
Old 05-26-04, 06:23 PM
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This sounds suspiciously like that whole Star Trek license issue from a few months ago, but in reverse...

Although I'm all for better games, i don't think this is the way to go about it. Some reviewers, for example, use a 5 point scale, and so a 3, which would be an average game, would just be 60%. What kind of sample of reviewers would they take?

What if a game developer makes a game based on a movie that turns out to be a flop and ruins sales of that game? This is just plain stupid, if it turns out to be tue.
Old 05-26-04, 09:08 PM
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I really don't like the idea, but maybe it would somewhat stop companies from using licenses to sell crappy games.
Old 05-26-04, 09:10 PM
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Originally posted by flashburn
Dishonest reviews?!?! That would just be insane!

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/383/383421p1.html
Oddly enough though i kind of enjoyed the sheer cheescake of this game. If only i could find it for really cheap i'd probably own it.
Old 05-26-04, 09:31 PM
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Didn't Enter the Matrix get rushed to meet the movie deadline? SHould the game maker get penalized because they were forced to put out a crappy product?
Old 05-26-04, 10:22 PM
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This will be interesting to follow
Old 05-26-04, 10:36 PM
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Originally posted by shadowhawk2020
Didn't Enter the Matrix get rushed to meet the movie deadline? SHould the game maker get penalized because they were forced to put out a crappy product?
ok, point made but what was stopping them from hiring a few more people so that the game would be a lot better? A deadline would just be hard to make imo if you didn't have enough people to make the deadline. Not to mention i'm sure they knew about this deadline ahead of time, not like a week before it shipped.
Old 05-26-04, 11:08 PM
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Well, I think this idea does have merit. While the 70% thing is perhaps too specific (considering the wide variances in how people review) it could definately work.

The statement about Enter the Matrix is kind of funny. Sure it sold 4 million copies, but that's because it was the Matrix, not because of the game. They could've released Pong with Neo's face emblazend on the ball and still have sold a couple million copies. So really I don't mind WB holding them to some standard. Why not? most licensed products suck anyway, so with this you'd have only companies that think they can make a good game, trying to produce one.

They'd need to pick something less specific though to judge.
Old 05-26-04, 11:26 PM
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Originally posted by glassdragon
ok, point made but what was stopping them from hiring a few more people so that the game would be a lot better?
Speaking as a programmer and manager or large projects (not video game related) hiring more people would likely make things worse. There are way too many reasons to get into here, but more people doesn't make it better. I can only imagine it's 10 times worse for a video game.
Old 05-26-04, 11:30 PM
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How about Warner Bros don't license out their movies for videogames? That would help.
Old 05-27-04, 01:53 AM
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Just considering the attitude of Atari's rep shows why they put out an inferior product. To paraphrase "So what if we put out crap! We sold $250 million worth of product."

I also see this trend as a large indicator as to how the gaming industry is changing. Now companies can put out crap as long as it is "popular" whether it be a liscense or a excessive violence. Creativity seems to be in danger of becoming sucked out of the industry. It doesn't necessarily have to be something totally different, as long as it is done well and adds something unique. Unfortunately it seems as if all the Joe Six Packs are holding the reigns of the gaming industry while the true gamers are seeking refuge in the few bastions of truely unique well made games.

This is why crap like Enter the Matrix can sell millions while games like Beyond Good and Evil sit in the bargain bin weeks after release.

Last edited by tanman; 05-27-04 at 02:00 AM.
Old 05-27-04, 07:53 AM
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Originally posted by tanman
Creativity seems to be in danger of becoming sucked out of the industry.
"Live In Your World, Play In Ours." and that's all I'm going to say.
Old 05-27-04, 08:59 AM
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Originally posted by tanman
Just considering the attitude of Atari's rep shows why they put out an inferior product. To paraphrase "So what if we put out crap! We sold $250 million worth of product."
I think you missed his point. Is anyone is gullible enough to believe that WBIE is doing this because they care about quality just for quality's sake? At best, they're doing this because they think good reviews = higher sales. At worst, as the article subtly implies, it's an excuse to grab more cash back from publishers even when a game has met sales expectations.

So Bonnell is responding to that and probably meant, justifiably so, something more like, "we exceeded your wildest sales expectations. What more can you reasonably ask for?" I know they put a proven team on the Matrix games and apparently were working under strict deadlines.
Old 05-27-04, 09:21 AM
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Originally posted by flashburn
Dishonest reviews?!?! That would just be insane!

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/383/383421p1.html
That is one of my favorite games. So...Don't know what your point is.
Old 05-27-04, 12:33 PM
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Originally posted by PixyJunket
"Live In Your World, Play In Ours." and that's all I'm going to say.
I'm assuming your blaming Sony for the lack of creativity?

I wouldn't put all the blame on Sony or the publishers. The mainstream gamers have just as much of the blame as they do. They just don't buy unique creative games anymore in seems, so the publishers follow suit.

Some, but not all, fun and/or creative games I have played on the PS1,PS2:

Vagrant Story
Ape Escape
Parappa The Rapper
Monster Rancher
Tecmo's Deception series
Aquanauts Holiday
Jumping Flash Series (I know I'm not the only one that wants a sequel)
DMC 1(finally bringing action games into 3D and actually work, not without some faults of course)
Klonoa 2:Lunatea's Veil
The Mark of Kri
Old 05-27-04, 12:35 PM
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I'm not saying there aren't dishonest reviews now, but I fear with real financial incentives now at stake with reviews (other than the usual effect on sales a bad review may have), companies might "persuade" review sources to tame their poor reviews even more than usual.
Old 05-27-04, 01:23 PM
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This is one big promotion for GameRankings.com ... isn't it?

Old 05-27-04, 01:35 PM
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Originally posted by Galanthas
I'm assuming your blaming Sony for the lack of creativity?
Not entirely. But I do feel they are responsible for the general change in attitude towards the overal console gaming world when the first PS1 came out. It's well known that Sony had a firm stance to all developers to "Make as many games as possible, regardless of quality." during the PS1's initial years. They pushed graphics and concepts over gameplay and creativity. Their loud, brash MTV-style commericals were aimed at a new demograph of video gamers. I only blame Sony for changing the direction.

Today, however, I put more blame on the consumer than anything. All it takes is a couple of weeks on this forum (which isn't even a major gaming site) to see the attitude Joe Six Pack puts on innovation in their video games.
Old 05-27-04, 07:52 PM
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Originally posted by John Spartan
I think you missed his point. Is anyone is gullible enough to believe that WBIE is doing this because they care about quality just for quality's sake? At best, they're doing this because they think good reviews = higher sales. At worst, as the article subtly implies, it's an excuse to grab more cash back from publishers even when a game has met sales expectations.

So Bonnell is responding to that and probably meant, justifiably so, something more like, "we exceeded your wildest sales expectations. What more can you reasonably ask for?" I know they put a proven team on the Matrix games and apparently were working under strict deadlines.
Oh, I'm not shielding WB at all. I think it is a really poor attempt at grabbing for more money. I also don't know what really went on behind the game. My take on what he said is just that, what I thought he meant.

I still think it is sad that a subpar game like Enter the matrix can sell millions of copies.
Old 05-27-04, 08:54 PM
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Originally posted by Chrisedge
That is one of my favorite games. So...Don't know what your point is.
Yeah 2 friends of mine who are borderline xbox haters like DOAXBV a lot so all a matter of opinion i guess

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