Figures compiled by NPD Group, a market research firm, affirm what the marketplace has already established: video games based on Hollywood and book licenses are almost never big hits. Instead, year after year, games based on original characters and universes dominate the sales charts. "Everybody's making games as some kind of way to extend their brands and just make more money, and they don't necessarily understand what makes games good," Mr. Coffey said in a telephone interview. "Most of these licensed games are very boring, very cookie-cutter." Games, movies, music, water, whiskey -- what's the difference? |
