Zoned In: The selling of high-profile IPs

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.