While the twin movie and game approach is risky, it reflects a growing trend in the industry. Video games have become so lucrative that movie companies have become loathe to give up the rights for games based on their properties to game companies. Instead, Disney and Warner Bros. have stepped up game production. Electronic Arts is also moving in the same direction, greenlighting media such as TV shows or comics based on its original game properties. Radar Group, a start-up that came out of stealth earlier this year, also wants to make games and movies based on the same properties simultaneously.
The path is fraught with peril. EA backed out of making games based on licensed properties because the results were boring gamers. And both movies and games are a hit or miss business. While the rewards of doing both are higher, so are the consequences of failure.
Brash Entertainment raised hundreds of millions of dollars to make games based on movies, but a number of the titles have fallen flat and it recently laid off some developers. Selvage (left) said he is aware of the risks and he believes that most games based on movies fail because they are made in too short a time and there isn’t enough cooperation with the movie studio.
Red Eagle games is planning to release its titles on all major platforms: the consoles, personal computers, handhelds and wireless devices.