Licensed games don’t really exist in the way they did 20 years ago, with three different versions of the same game being made for different consoles adapting a popular media property on the cheap to fill kids’ holiday sacks. These days they’ve got a bit more to them, and Saber Interactive have carved out a nice little niche for themselves with licensed games, with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 being a big part of that.
Speaking to The Game Business, Saber’s chief creative officer Tim Willits said the Warhammer game “literally changed everything,” for the studio. He explained, “It not only changed the way that the team looks at making games, it changed how people look at us. I’ve seen this in my career, when you have a huge hit, when you go to make the next game, everything has to be awesome. It’s like, ‘This has got to be the most awesome toaster ever.’ And it fuels success.”
While Willits didn’t name any names, he did imply that a number of “major license” holders have taken interest in Saber. “We are in a very fortunate position to turn down more than we can accept. I can’t say the name, but… you know you’re successful when you’ve turned down those guys.” He also noted that even though they have had some successful original games, they do plan to continue adapting preexisting series.
But he also tapped into the issue that, honestly, moving image is facing as a whole currently. “With a licensed game, it does help open the door. Let’s talk about Hellraiser. If we wanted to make a survival horror game and it was our own IP, it would be more of an uphill battle. But people have heard of Hellraiser. People have heard of Space Marine, and Space Marine 2 was a huge success. World War Z, a great book, okay movie, and a super good video game.”
Willits even claimed that Paramount are even considering making another World War Z movie is because of the success of the game. This is where the crux of the problem, or I guess my frustration, lies. It’s just a shame that everything has to exist already, because you don’t get interesting surprises that way.