26 MCV 24/09/10 BRAND LICENSING
WWW.MCVUK.COM
A licence to print money
As the Brand Licensing Europe exhibition prepares to open its doors at London’s Olympia next week, what is the current and future status of licensing in the interactive games business? AT New Media director Paul Comben tells all…
LICENSING HAS become a crucial part of the video game industry in several ways.
First off, games based on licences account for at least half of all the games sold worldwide. And many of the perennially successful global game franchises use third party IP, such as Spider-Man, FIFA and Gran Turismo. But licensing can also help with market expansion, and publishers are now licensing out their games brands into merchandise categories.
MARKET EXPANSION The history of video games has been about complicated triple-A titles with rising
With the proliferation of platforms and the expansion of the market for gamers, opportunities have opened up for big licensed games which would not previously have been as successful as triple-A hardcore titles.
The expansion of the market to young children, mainly thanks to Nintendo Wii and DS, has led to strong game sales for television properties such as Peppa Pig and Ben 10.
development budgets, to be played on powerful consoles by hardcore gamers. But the immediate future is about casual games with modest development budgets, to be played on multiple platforms – all while targeting a mainstream audience.
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AT New Media has brokered a range of licenses to games including PDC Darts and Horrible Histories (see ‘Driving Licences’).
Despite great potential, there is still a lack of understanding by many rights owners, publishers and developers. Paul Comben, AT New Media
The growth in casual gaming, along with an ability to anticipate the convergence of a platform’s life cycle – with key target audience demographics and the right branded game – has yielded strong sales.
The mobile games market has always relied heavily on licences and, thanks particularly to Apple and its popular business model, publishers are now enjoying strong sales for licensed games such as Monopoly and Tiger Woods. Famous brands help to overcome the biggest challenge in the App Store – how to get a game noticed among the huge quantity of others. Most of the games companies attending Brand Licensing Europe will be visiting to search
for suitable licences. And they should be striving to match game concept with platform and target audience with genre-leading brand. But in a neat twist, games companies are also exhibiting at the show, seeking merchandise licensees for popular games brands such as
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LittleBigPlanet and Rayman. In fact, products like SackBoy soft toys and keyrings are already available at retail. Licensing out their own video game IP can benefits games companies in three main ways. These are brand promotion, trademark protection and royalty revenue.
FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES Despite this potential, there is still a lack of understanding by many rights owners, publishers and developers. Most rights owners need more knowledge and understanding of the games market and the opportunities available for their brands.
The complexity of multiple platforms and business models is difficult for firms to follow and many need advice on how to be proactive.
Most publishers and developers lack the time to keep on top of who owns which rights, whether they are available, how to submit licensing proposals and which licences to target.
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