Interactive IP RIGHTS AND WRONGS
Turning famous names into famous games
Valerié Bozzetto and Megan Goodwin, co-founders of digital consultancy Interactive Rights Management (IRM), explore the challenges and opportunities involved in taking a well-known book, film or TV show and creating an online gaming version
Translating films, TV shows, books and other intellectual property into digital products and services can be a challenge – particularly when you’re creating something that’s going to be distributed in a number of different countries.
One thing we’ve learnt is that the Maori people – the natives of New Zealand, who colonised the country around 1300 CE – are very proud of their heritage. As a result, Maori traditions, symbols, cultural artefacts, music, dance and religious ceremonies are protected by law and their use in film, TV, and online is monitored and controlled.
If what you’re trying to create sits in the digital gaming space (such as a slots game which uses the imagery, theme or characters of a hit movie, book or PC or video game) then you’re facing even more complications, including brand fit, demographic fit and more specifically regulatory matters – the laws on gambling, whether bricks and mortar or online, are wildly different from one country to another (or, if you plan to operate in the US, between one state and another).
Sorting out all of the different variables before successfully launching a digital version of an existing IP is a complex operation.
Tere is an argument that the very first thing you need to do is define your target audience and understand what appeals to them, what digital media they consume and on what devices.
Slots, for example, have a heavy female bias, with most players aged between 40 and 55 and earning below average. From a pure financial perspective, the biggest-spending online slots market is the UK. For ‘free to play’ or social
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games, however, it’s the US. Temes and imagery for both physical and online slots machines will tend to appeal to this audience demographic and resonate with them. US players tends to prefer stronger fantasy looking games.
Agatha Christie, for example, works – and there is actually an Agatha Christie online slots game (Agatha Christie’s Mystery Wilds). I should admit at this point that we ourselves did this deal, which has succeeded brilliantly because of a great brand and demographic fit.
We worked for over nine years on the digital brand extensions of Agatha Christie and we learnt a huge amount about translating IP into the digital space from that experience.
Agatha Christie’s works have sold roughly two billion copies worldwide – a figure only beaten by the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. According to experts, she is the most-translated individual author in the world, with her books available in at least 103 languages. On top of that, there are all the films based on her books
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