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SodiumBenzoate · Sep 30, 2015

When I read this, everything made much more sense.

Shamelessly stolen from Reddit:

It is extremely easy to speculate that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 is the glitchy, incomplete mess that early impressions suggest it is because it was rushed out so Activision could capitalize on brand recognition one last time before the contract expired.
I thought this would be interesting for some users who may be looking for context as to why the game is apparently such poor quality.

2002 press release:

Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that the company has extended its successful partnership with world-renowned skateboarder Tony Hawk through an exclusive multi-year video game licensing agreement that expires in 2015.

So it's just a shameless cash grab before the license expires. Can't say I'm surprised. There is much more detail in the reddit post, including a gamespot story about the press release.

Revert me through the floor geometry if old.

Blablurn · Sep 30, 2015

I wonder if someone else will pick it up after the latest release

The Jackdog · Sep 30, 2015

same thing sony does/did with spiderman movies. i think fox is the same with fantastic four?

crank em out or lose em

edit: oops, seems like this was just to get one handful of money off some people silly enough to buy it.

xam3l · Sep 30, 2015

That's no excuse for not making a good Tony Hawk game since... I dont know... Project 8 or something.

JehutyRunner · Sep 30, 2015

Blablurn said:
I wonder if someone else will pick it up after the latest release

plzeaplzeaplzea

kulapik · Sep 30, 2015

Thankfully Tony Hawk's rights don't work like the Fantastic Four ones do.

serenewarfare · Sep 30, 2015

Even though it does expire, I'm really not sure who would pick it up. Black Box doesn't exist anymore, so EA is doubtful. Maybe 2K? I just don't know that the brand is worth as much as it used to be anymore.

The Jackdog said:
same thing sony does/did with spiderman movies.

crank em out or lose em

No, Activision is losing them anyways. They just wanted to get one more cash-grab out the door on the way out.

5amshift · Sep 30, 2015

They still have 3 months left. There's really no excuse it's this bad.

Spring-Loaded · Sep 30, 2015

Video game development is hard.

Aostia · Sep 30, 2015

SodiumBenzoate said:
o it's just a shameless cash grab

perfect description!

The Jackdog · Sep 30, 2015

serenewarfare said:
Even though it does expire, I'm really not sure who would pick it up. Black Box doesn't exist anymore, so EA is doubtful. Maybe 2K? I just don't know that the brand is worth as much as it used to be anymore.

No, Activision is losing them anyways. They just wanted to get one more cash-grab out the door on the way out.

whoops, youre right. edited.

ZeroX03 · Sep 30, 2015

5amshift said:
They still have 3 months left. There's really no excuse it's this bad.

Could be they have to pull it from shelves after it expires.

Hektor · Sep 30, 2015

Awful that stuff like this happens. Im still mad about LOTR: Conquest which was the same scenario.

ZealousD · Sep 30, 2015

This "context" just makes it worse. We can't just chalk it up to incompetence. Instead we can chalk it up to greed and disrespect for customers!

Raist · Sep 30, 2015

5amshift said:
They still have 3 months left. There's really no excuse it's this bad.

And it's not like the license expiring was a last minute surprise or something.

Mindwipe · Sep 30, 2015

ZeroX03 said:
Could be they have to pull it from shelves after it expires.

Doubtful.

But they might not be able to do any active marketing, which I imagine would be an issue.

FelipeMGM · Sep 30, 2015

Oh boy, now it makes some terrible sense.

I hope EA snatches that and makes some SKATE/THPS mashup

Doczu · Sep 30, 2015

5amshift said:
They still have 3 months left. There's really no excuse it's this bad.

No matter how good the game would be, it would be MURDERED by the holiday big guns.

MAtgS · Sep 30, 2015

Remember when Activision was kicking ass with licensed properties? X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the old THPS games, Spider-Man games, the High Moon Transformers duology, even Goldeneye to an extent was decent. What the hell happened?

viveks86 · Sep 30, 2015

Yup. This was known since the announcement. They just wanted to shit one last game out before they called it a day

Harlock · Sep 30, 2015

They should do a Fantastic Four game.

Xater · Sep 30, 2015

Ist this another GAF > Reddit > GAF? Or maybe I even saw it way earlier mentioned on Twitter by industry folks.

samuraidino · Sep 30, 2015

Blablurn said:
I wonder if someone else will pick it up after the latest release

I dunno, yes Tony hawk is still essentially the biggest name in skateboarding.... But I don't think a guy in his late 40s is really going to be the major reason for a kid to buy a skateboarding game these days, and only really helps get the nostalgia crowd interested.

Also given that the last..... Decade, of games with Tony hawks name on it have been fairly shoddy or an outright disaster and I think it's time to distance the games away from him, and just have a skateboarding game minus his license.

Daffy Duck · Sep 30, 2015

5amshift said:
They still have 3 months left. There's really no excuse it's this bad.

Probably got another 5 games planned for release.

Noisepurge · Sep 30, 2015

Activision pulled a version of "Fantastic Four" eh

serenewarfare · Sep 30, 2015

FelipeMGM said:
Oh boy, now it makes some terrible sense.

I hope EA snatches that and makes some SKATE/THPS mashup

I don't think any of the Skate guys are left at EA since Black Box shutdown a few years ago. So there's no guarantee that a new Skate would be any good.

samn · Sep 30, 2015

MAtgS said:
Remember when Activision was kicking ass with licensed properties? X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the old THPS games, Spider-Man games, the High Moon Transformers duology, even Goldeneye to an extent was decent. What the hell happened?

Licensed properties for non-AAA games don't make the money they used to (except for toys to life, which they already have with Skylanders). It's better to invest the money into one of the bigger titles than into a mid-tier game.

Altered Juice · Sep 30, 2015

MAtgS said:
Remember when Activision was kicking ass with licensed properties? X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the old THPS games, Spider-Man games, the High Moon Transformers duology, even Goldeneye to an extent was decent. What the hell happened?

Cod 4

Joey Ravn · Sep 30, 2015

Blablurn said:
I wonder if someone else will pick it up after the latest release

You know who's free these days?

Hideo Kojima.

Iacobellis · Sep 30, 2015

Xater said:
Ist this another GAF > Reddit > GAF? Or maybe I even saw it way earlier mentioned on Twitter by industry folks.

I saw it yesterday on here as well.

That GameSpot is woefully broken now, it's kind of funny. Each platform is just Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance.

Off-Kilter · Sep 30, 2015

Joey Ravn said:
You know who's free these days?

Hideo Kojima.

Skateboarding mode in MGS2 was the real deal man.

down 2 orth · Sep 30, 2015

You would think that Activision would be concerned about their image...

Doczu · Sep 30, 2015

Joey Ravn said:
You know who's free these days?

Hideo Kojima.

No thank you, i just want to skate, not watch 30 minute interludes between levels about who the fuck is organizing the skating contest and who will backstab you mid in the story mode.

7DollarHagane · Sep 30, 2015

It's just to put something with the Tony hawk name on store shelves.

They hope that Joe blow casual gamer who owns a console walks into Walmart and says "hey i remember that" and buys it for the next year or two.

The $60 price is part of that because it makes it look like a normal full game, not a budget title.

Its totally scummy and awful.

Hamster Plugin · Sep 30, 2015

down 2 orth said:
One would think that Activision would be concerned about their image...

Activision has plenty of trash already made (The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, latest Spider-man games), this won't affect their reputation one bit. They will never die as long as they have Blizzard games and Call of Duty.

JordanN · Sep 30, 2015

down 2 orth said:
You would think that Activision would be concerned about their image...

Warcraft, Skylanders and Duty.

They're pretty much Disney as long as they control those brands.

dlauv · Sep 30, 2015

Project 8 and Proving Ground weren't great either. I'd argue Proving Ground is probably worse than 5.

Things haven't been the same since THUG2 really.

EvB · Sep 30, 2015

Doczu said:
No thank you, i just want to skate, not watch 30 minute interludes between levels about who the fuck is organizing the skating contest and who will backstab you mid in the story mode.

Are you not aware it's not the first time?

http://youtu.be/m2ITA1d_efk

BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO · Sep 30, 2015

Tony should go to kick starter next year and make a proper Tony hawk game.

Triggerhappytel · Sep 30, 2015

5amshift said:
They still have 3 months left. There's really no excuse it's this bad.

I wonder whether they have to remove it from digital sale once the license expires, like they did with Deadpool. Gotta get those three months for maximum sales before pulling the plug.

Xater · Sep 30, 2015

dlauv said:
Project 8 and Proving Ground weren't great either. I'd argue Proving Ground is probably worse than 5.

Things haven't been the same since THUG2 really.

But even the THUG games had issues. All the stuff that didn't involve skateboarding sucked. I have not trouble with including the running, but don't build missions around that. The whole attitude of the THUG games can also be very off putting. That's why I would still consider 3 and 4 the best games in the franchise.

Baron_Calamity · Sep 30, 2015

MAtgS said:
Remember when Activision was kicking ass with licensed properties? X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the old THPS games, Spider-Man games, the High Moon Transformers duology, even Goldeneye to an extent was decent. What the hell happened?

Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. Once those games started making insane amounts of money, putting effort into anything else didn't matter.

Doczu · Sep 30, 2015

EvB said:
Are you not aware it's not the first time?

http://youtu.be/m2ITA1d_efk

I am aware, but that was just a mini game, not a full fledged $60 "Tony Hawk: Tactical Action Sports. A Hideo Kojima Game".

bltn · Sep 30, 2015

Conveniently released one day before the end of their fiscal quarter, which is September 30th. That might even be the date the license expires?

Joe Shlabotnik · Sep 30, 2015

It's really extra special cynical when you think about it--crank out a cheap terrible game to cash in on what's left of the brand appeal while simultaneously torching the brand value for whomever would be interested in it afterward.

dlauv · Sep 30, 2015

Xater said:
But even the THUG games had issues. All the stuff that didn't involve skateboarding sucked. I have not trouble with including the running, but don't build missions around that. The whole attitude of the THUG games can also be very off putting. That's why I would still consider 3 and 4 the best games in the franchise.

Yeah I agree. THUG2 was when things got pretty funky is what I mean. THPS4 was probably worse than THUG2 to me tho.

Out of the entire franchise, 1-3 and THUG1 were enjoyable. AW was ok.

Joey Ravn · Sep 30, 2015

Off-Kilter said:
Skateboarding mode in MGS2 was the real deal man.

I admit that I find it hard to see how he could introduce Lil' Wayne to the MGS narrative, but, hey. Worth a try.

Tevren · Sep 30, 2015

Joe Shlabotnik said:
It's really extra special cynical when you think about it--crank out a cheap terrible game to cash in on what's left of the brand appeal while simultaneously torching the brand value for whomever would be interested in it afterward.

I wonder if Activision could use this as leverage with Tony to renew at lower cost? Then make an actual good game, and make more profit.

down 2 orth · Sep 30, 2015

JordanN said:
Warcraft, Skylanders and Duty.

They're pretty much Disney as long as they control those brands.

Hamster Plugin said:
Activision has plenty of trash already made (The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, latest Spider-man games), this won't affect their reputation one bit. They will never die as long as they have Blizzard games and Call of Duty.

They're like the Darth Vader of the video game industry.

samn · Sep 30, 2015

BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO said:
Tony should go to kick starter next year and make a proper Tony hawk game.

He could just fund it himself.

I do wonder how much of a reputation he would have left in the video game business. He's been enthusiastically promoting these Activision games for years.

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