Tying Games to Television Series Could Open a New Type of Market for Developers
Ubi Soft this week announced it won the license agreement for games based on the CBS television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This is great news for development companies. Why’s that?
Whereas development of games based on movies is popular, successful and a highly sought business, games based on television series can be quite a different proposition. [an error occurred while processing this directive] Games based on movies often have timing issues. It’s very difficult to time a game’s release with a movie release. Often, the game comes out a season or even a year later. With a television series, you know how many episodes the network has ordered. (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation PC game is expected in the second half of 2003.)
Proof of popularity. A big-budget movie that has huge expectations could flop, thereby deflating excitement about the game long before the game is released. An existing television show already has proof of popularity and name recognition is already a known factor.
A television show that’s popular in the U.S. might not be as popular internationally, so a game developer might not get as much distribution as a blockbuster movie.
But forget about the one- or two-game deal. Whereas movies come, then go, then go to video, a television series is ongoing, leaving wide open the opportunity for the games to be ongoing and, serial, just as the series.
Players could subscribe to the game and particularly with the rising popularity of mobile device game paying, could receive a new game each week, tied to the upcoming episode. The boxed sets, per season, could have years of shelf life.
Any show with good ratings is a candidate. (CSI has upward of 20 million viewers every week, is currently CBS's #1 rated show, and has the key demographic categories, including the 18-34, 18-49 and the 25-54 age groups). A mystery series is particularly suited to this sort of game series.
I can’t see it happening with sitcoms or hour dramas, but if you match the demographics of game players (15 - 35) with those of action or mystery TV shows, you could easily see a game series featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dark Angel, 24. But any popular series, or series with a cult following, could mean a related game series -- a steady source of income for the savvy developer.
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