Marvel splits from EA Games

Tue, Jan 29, 2008

Comics and cartoons, Film, TV and radio, Games

MCV and other sources are reporting that Marvel and EA Games have dissolved their relationship formed in 2004 and which has only produced one game so far, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects in 2005. Naturally this has lead to some speculation that the House of Ideas may have ideas about setting up their own games company to develop, create and market games based on their own characters directly. Since Marvel previously announced that it was going to self-finance developing films based on its intellectual properties it seems pretty likely to me that they will do something similar with games.

And it makes some sense from a business point of view – we know the rights for both games and films (which these days are more closely related than ever) are pretty lucrative, that’s why studios bid for them after all. And let’s face it, in terms of licensing for films and games (and merchandise) Marvel has a back-catalogue of characters and scenarios to kill for; they have what business folks call brand-visibility, built up over decades and a ready-made audience so whatever extra audience you pull in is a bonus. Taking more direct control over films and games development would, I imagine, allow Marvel both a bigger share of the pie (no middle man) so it is financially attractive and also more direct control over how other media using their valuable ‘brands’ and characters are portrayed, which is obviously important as they have a vested interest in making sure a bestselling character is done just right for a movie or game, more so than a third party who may just be using them as a springboard for what they want to hang a story around.

Who knows, maybe it will even lead to more comics writers and artists getting some work in other media like film and game development – we’ve seen film writers moving into comics and some comics writers like Gordon Rennie working in games, so why not more of that, especially if it is all ‘in house’, so to speak? I mean a lot of games look great but could so with a decent writer’s touch to give them some more depth and interest and you have the bonus of using people familiar with the comics characters being used. So maybe some good could come of it in potential other employment for existing artists and writers, plus if it pays off Marvel makes more from its existing characters which keeps them successful as a company, which is something most of us in comics want to see. Be very interesting to see how this develops.