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Any Successful Returns of Franchises Made After IP Purchase?
- Thread starter NoKisum
- Start date
uncredited male
Member
I cannot think of a big IP that was moved that was not related to a bankruptcy. Maybe there was something.
Fallout was sold to pay off some of Interplay's bankruptcy creditors. I personally suspect Fallout Online was never really put into production. Interplay was just fishing for an investor willing to bet the farm on it.
EDIT - It was actually Titus Software who went bankrupt. They had bought Interplay.
Fallout was sold to pay off some of Interplay's bankruptcy creditors. I personally suspect Fallout Online was never really put into production. Interplay was just fishing for an investor willing to bet the farm on it.
EDIT - It was actually Titus Software who went bankrupt. They had bought Interplay.
CertifiedFP
Member
Didn't they just lose a shitton of money from the Myth 2 recall and were having troubles due to being dropped by Take2 (due to Oni bombing) around the time they sold all their assets to Microsoft?
Correct but I was talking about Halo as we know it under MS, not the one shown at Macworld in 1999. I love Destiny but I still dont think Bungie has figured out the formula. It is very much a work in progress.
Hmm, Double Fine bought the rights for their own-developed Psychonauts from Majesco Entertainment a couple of years ago, hopefully the sequel will not disappoint. Other smaller developers done the same, like with Outcast. Soon the remake Outcast: Second Contact is coming, and I hope it's good too.
Ubisoft bought the Driver series (and it's developer studio) from Atari, although the latest Driver game 6 years ago wasn't a hit, and the studio been working on other stuff since then like the Grow Home games.
One of the demands Bethesda made to even buy the whole Fallout IP in 2007 was that Interplay would use that money to pay the unpaid wages they owed. People don't seem to remember what shitty position Interplay was in, thanks to Herve Caan. It was Herve Caan who ruined Interplay and in turn also Fallout, not Bethesda. And Fallout 3 was an extremely massive hit after the FOBOS disaster, so I wouldn't really call it ruined either.
Ubisoft bought the Driver series (and it's developer studio) from Atari, although the latest Driver game 6 years ago wasn't a hit, and the studio been working on other stuff since then like the Grow Home games.
Van Buren had been dead and buried for quite some time in favour of FOBOS, before Bethesda bought the rights for 3 Fallout games. And Interplay was in no position to make anything new and in a ton of debt because of unpaid wages. Van Buren had literally zero chance of being revived.
One of the demands Bethesda made to even buy the whole Fallout IP in 2007 was that Interplay would use that money to pay the unpaid wages they owed. People don't seem to remember what shitty position Interplay was in, thanks to Herve Caan. It was Herve Caan who ruined Interplay and in turn also Fallout, not Bethesda. And Fallout 3 was an extremely massive hit after the FOBOS disaster, so I wouldn't really call it ruined either.
autoduelist
Member
I don't even...
Fallout 1/2 would be on the forever shortlist of best rpgs ever regardless of whether 3 came out. To say we wouldn't be talking about the first 2 without 3 is absurd. They were not 'obscure ancient games' they were 'extremely well known and respected ancient games'.
I mean, calling Fallout 1/2 'obscure' is just insane. You aren't being 'blunt', you're being 'wrong'.
CrichtonKicks
Member
Double Post.
CrichtonKicks
Member
While Fallout is probably second only to Red Dead in terms of success stories for this topic Fallout 3 was in active development several times under Interplay. The existing tech demo of Van Buren is more than enough proof that there was a "serious attempt" at Fallout 3 under Inteprlay.
If they had been even a little more financially stable then Fallout 3 would almost certainly have made it to market.
It was always IO Interactive even if the publisher changed over.
flashman92
Neo Member
that Wonder Boy 3 remake was done completely independent of Sega, wasn't it?
Wasn't really an IP purchase so much as Sega not caring
Wasn't really an IP purchase so much as Sega not caring
CalamityPixel
Member
Gunstar Ikari
Unconfirmed Member
Puyo Puyo...maybe.
The IP transfer was a weird case. Not only was Compile still alive when the rights were sold to Sega, Compile actually still used the IP like it was their own for a couple of years after. (AKA releasing games on PS1/N64/GBC with Sega copyrights.) But there was a fairly clean break between Compile's games and Sega's games, and the series still makes bank
, so it still kinda counts.
The IP transfer was a weird case. Not only was Compile still alive when the rights were sold to Sega, Compile actually still used the IP like it was their own for a couple of years after. (AKA releasing games on PS1/N64/GBC with Sega copyrights.) But there was a fairly clean break between Compile's games and Sega's games, and the series still makes bank
milking whales via gacha shenanigans
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
they actually produced a couple of good titles after being purchased by EA before they were mismanaged
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
Midway "lost" the rights to NBA jam without declaring bankruptcy although I'd hesitate to declare the NBA jam games acclaim made successful.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Killer Instinct
Poimandres
Member
This is the best one I could think of.
Mass Effect
Member
Surprised no one has said Battlefront. I know the originals are beloved, but you can't deny that Battlefront 2015 was wildly successful despite some of its shortcomings.
And while BF2 is getting a ton of shit right now (deservedly so), it's still going to sell gangbusters.
And while BF2 is getting a ton of shit right now (deservedly so), it's still going to sell gangbusters.
Poimandres
Member
I feel like we would open some doors if an IP was published by the same company, but developed by a different team.
Then you can start looking at stuff like Gradius V, F-Zero GX, Nier etc
Then you can start looking at stuff like Gradius V, F-Zero GX, Nier etc
The IP never changed hands since it always belonged to Lucasfilm and still does. The Disney acquisition didn't affect it, and EA is just contracted to publish them / let their studios develop them.
NoKisum
Member
Nah, I'm talking a full change of hands, not just licensing the property to another studio under the original company's supervision.
KonradLaw
Member
Anno. Was pretty popular under Sunflowers, but became huge only after Ubisoft bought it and the development switched to Related Design.
Same thing happened to Silent Hunter. It's two biggest successes (III and IV) came after Ubisoft bought out the IP
Might & Magic is more of a mixed bag, but HoMMV was definitely an improvemnt over IVth, Might & Magic X was far better than last couple previous RPG entries in the series and Dark Messiah beat the hell out of any previous action game made from the IP
And the most obvious example - Far Cry. It's became gigantic IP under Ubisoft's ownership
Same thing happened to Silent Hunter. It's two biggest successes (III and IV) came after Ubisoft bought out the IP
Might & Magic is more of a mixed bag, but HoMMV was definitely an improvemnt over IVth, Might & Magic X was far better than last couple previous RPG entries in the series and Dark Messiah beat the hell out of any previous action game made from the IP
And the most obvious example - Far Cry. It's became gigantic IP under Ubisoft's ownership
Dude, game companies almost NEVER sell their IPs unless they are going out of business. I would be hard pressed to think of a time when ANY healthy game publisher sold an IP to another game publisher.....let alone one that became a popular revival.
The answer to your question is that there have not been any successful returns of this nature. At best there are instances where an IP holder "loaned" a forgotten IP to another developer and they did a cool reboot (Sam & Max, Monkey Island from Telltale).
The closest example I could think of would be when Microsoft bought Gears of War from Epic. Gears of War 4 was pretty well received, but I wouldn't say it is a big revival.
The answer to your question is that there have not been any successful returns of this nature. At best there are instances where an IP holder "loaned" a forgotten IP to another developer and they did a cool reboot (Sam & Max, Monkey Island from Telltale).
The closest example I could think of would be when Microsoft bought Gears of War from Epic. Gears of War 4 was pretty well received, but I wouldn't say it is a big revival.
KonradLaw
Member
There have been numerous examples named in this very thread :]
DyslexicAlucard
Member
I'm not incredibly familiar with the inner workings of how and why the IP transfer occurred, but would the Legacy of Kain series moving from Silicon Knights to Crystal Dynamics count? I know it wasn't exactly a happy, mutual transition of ownership, but I can't remember the specifics.
Almost none of the "examples" really adhere to the OP's stipulation that it can't just be an IP someone picked up as the result of a bankruptcy or liquidation. Almost every franchise that's been named has been the result of a liquidation or buyout of a defunct or nearly defunct company. It's rare that a healthy developer sells an IP to another healthy developer.
KonradLaw
Member
It's rare, but it does happen. Example - Far Cry. Successful game, Crytek sold IP to Ubi, where it became huge, while Crytek was doing really good back then. They just focused on Crysis.
So while it's not common, this does happen from time to time, so you were wrong.
I was actually referring to Bethesda buying it from Activision lol
One example I can think of of an IP being purchased from an existing company by another and having some measure of success is with Guilty Gear. Although the circumstances of that are rather odd, since Arc System Works was always the developer of the series but the rights were owned by Sammy, which then ended up under SegaSammy after the merger. Sammy dropped interest after GGXXAC and GG2 (yeah, that weird X360 game) and nothing was really done with the series afterward until ArcSys got the rights back.
I guess the closest modern comparison would be what happened with Io Interactive and Hitman, where they've always been the developer of the series but they bought the IP out from Square-Enix after they lost interest.
I guess the closest modern comparison would be what happened with Io Interactive and Hitman, where they've always been the developer of the series but they bought the IP out from Square-Enix after they lost interest.
Yep. F1 and F2 were just as talked about as the likes of PST, Baldur's Gate etc. even before F3.
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
Errmm....
TheThreadsThatBindUs
Member
I think Max Pain and Prey are good examples.
Although Prey wasn't a commercial success, it was certainly well received critically (despite it being nothing resembling anything from the Prey franchiseessentially a re-branded new IP).
Max Pain on the other hand was a superb game, as well as being a reasonable commercial success.
Although Prey wasn't a commercial success, it was certainly well received critically (despite it being nothing resembling anything from the Prey franchiseessentially a re-branded new IP).
Max Pain on the other hand was a superb game, as well as being a reasonable commercial success.