March 12, 2009

The selling of high-profile IPs
By Michael Lafferty

What will the Eidos sale to Square-Enix mean for franchises like Tomb Raider?

It does not seem all that long ago that many major strides were made in the gaming industry and yet, for all intents and purposes, perhaps the most significant are about to happen.

We are not talking hardware innovation, though that will certainly be interesting to watch for, but rather the restructuring of the software side. A quick recap for those who may not have followed the news – one-time arcade powerhouse Midway is going bankrupt and selling off its assets, which includes the Mortal Kombat license. It has been rumored that Activision is interested, but that has yet to unfold.

But in other and equally interesting news, it appears that Square-Enix has reached the right financial numbers to buy out Eidos Interactive. This means that the future of the Tomb Raider franchise may well lay in the hands of the company comprise of, arguably, some of the best artistic talent in the industry.

But Eidos is more than just Tomb Raider. It is Kane & Lynch, the Hitman franchise and the MMO (publishing rights, Funcom has the license) Age of Conan. But also think back more than a few years to some of the titles that really established Eidos, games like Soul Reaver (with the vampire Kane), Thief and even the little-remembered Revenant. Those who remember the original Thief could well tell you tales of gameplay that was ahead of its time, with a medieval steampunk setting and stealth-based gameplay. It followed the exploits of Garrett (voiced by Stephen Russell) and it was widely considered as one of the best games of all time. But much like the sequels to the Soul Reaver games (from Crystal Dynamics; Thief was developed by Looking Glass), the Thief sequels were not as compelling as the original. It would, however, be interesting to see what Square might do if they owned the licenses and decided to review the series.

It’s almost like the trepidation that Mortal Kombat fans are going through knowing their beloved series is on the selling block.

Of course, is it worth reviving the series. Just because a company buys out another and technically gets the licenses does not mean they have an interest in revisiting old IP. And besides, Eidos’ current IPs – Lara Croft as well as any Kane & Lynch successors – could prove to be enough to focus on for the near future.

While some wonder about Square’s motives in acquiring Eidos, what really matters is that the Eidos’ IPs are falling into proven hands. Square-Enix is not only a terrific company that makes great games, but it is sound financially. In these economic times, the latter is important.

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---