That Warm Fuzzy Holiday Feeling
I know what you are thinking. "What are you thinking?!" During my recent quest to acquire and purchase licensed games from the past, I came to realize how much I miss those days. Was that really the worst the game industry had to offer? Unbeknownst to us at the time, the emergence of DLC was just the beginning of the end. We all hated licensed video games. They were considered shovelware, holiday slog, garbage, only for children, and any other name you can pick. While most were terrible, they were some decent ones. Despite their occasional low budget, they ensured the publishers' financial stability, allowing studios to continue developing AAA games without the fear of shutdown. If you showed me a live service game in 2005 and the damage it caused to the industry, I would buy five copies of every licensed game to ensure that it never happened again.
So, what did happen? Well, games got more expensive. Even the most affordable game in today's market can cost nearly a million dollars, even with a simple license agreement to a popular franchise. Most license deals were with companies like Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., and the occasional older movie license such as The Evil Dead or Marvel. Forget being cheap today. As prices increased, most studios became increasingly greedy, acquiring smaller studios and retaining them for their own use. Disney gained notoriety for this practice, leading to the closure of Black Rock Studios, one of the most cherished game studios during the mid- to late 2000s. They are also famous for shutting down Junction Point Games, who made Epic Mickey for Wii. Black Rock Studio was a fantastic racing game studio that produced the MotoGP and ATV Offroad Fury games, as well as Pure and Split/Second.
Sadly, many decent licensed games didn't sell well because of the vitriol surrounding them. Gamers simply detested these games, with some vowing never to purchase even one. Many of them felt like quick money makers or cheap cash grabs, catering primarily to children. Other licensed games, such as Marvel vs. Capcom and Def Jam: Fight for NY, received positive feedback and excellent sales. The Indiana Jones games from LucasArts were decent enough. There was even a game based on the movie The Great Escape, but it didn't review well. The James Bond license was a massive success from the 90's to the late 2000's as well. The majority of these rental-fodder games were enjoyable, and it's surprising how few received negative reviews. Another example is the excellent Kim Possible: What's the Switch?, which is a really good platformer. However, due to the license itself and its appeal to a younger audience, it was not purchased.
There was also a craze for super hero video games, which lasted from around 1990 to 2015. Superhero games are in decline, failing to keep pace with the popularity of films. Think about why this is. The majority of these games were inexpensive and quickly licensed, occasionally featuring a rare AAA title like the Batman: Arkham series from Rocksteady Studios or Spider-Man 2 from Treyach, a company that has exclusively produced Call of Duty games since 2008. You might only be familiar with AAA titles like Spider-Man games or the occasional fighters like Marvel vs. Capcom or Injustice on the DC side, but the majority of these games were designed for children. Games such as Marvel Super Hero Squad, the latest LEGO Marvel games, Teen Titans, Superman Returns, and many other poorly reviewed superhero games were not supported by a substantial budget. During the holidays, they sold exceptionally well and contributed significantly to revenue. That's all they were useful for.
What's even worse is that most licensed games today are live service games. Fighting games such as MultiVersus, super hero games such as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Marvel's Avengers, and many others are incredibly unpopular with most gamers and feel like they ruin what once was great. Publishers prioritize games that generate substantial cash flow and cater to a broad audience, particularly parents who may be gullible and easily exploited. The predatory models have always existed, even 20 years ago, but they weren't as easily accessible and well known. The emergence of HD consoles marked the beginning of DLC and microtransactions, but even then, we had access to real content at a fixed price. Some were good, and some were bad, just like the full video games themselves. Once the smartphone market gained momentum, it quickly spread to the console realm, a phenomenon that many had sworn would never occur. In the early 2010's, developers were talking about how microtransactions were the future of staying in business rather than talking about making quality products that people actually wanted to buy.
These days, licensed games are usually reserved for AA or AAA budgets such as the recent Marvel's Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games or the upcoming Wolverine game by the same developer. The soon to be released Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has a massive budget from MachineGames who brought us the most recent Wolfenstein games. However, the large onslaught of cartoon focused games that release during the holidays are...gone. I honestly really miss these releases even if they were terrible. A lot of us grew up with them as kids as that's all our parents would get or our grandparents or aunt didn't know any better and got us a game on a cartoon they know we watched a lot when we were over. These games releasing was part of the holiday feeling that I would get every year. Negative or not it was part of what made a lot of people's childhood special.
The yearly releases were something that just felt familiar and we could always look forward to either loving or making fun of. The yearly releases for the Harry Potter games were hit or miss, but it was always fun to see what would be done next with the series. Barbie, Shrek, Cars, Batman, Superman, The Godfather, Scarface, the list goes on. Not all were for kids, but many were, and it seemed the larger budget games were saved for teens and adult audiences. Long gone are the days seeing four different versions of a Spider-Man game that played differently on every platform. Seeing those boxes in the stores meant the Christmas cheer was around the corner and you either hoped or would dread seeing that cover as you ripped open the paper.
While I don't have any photos of myself as a child opening video games during Christmas, here are a couple more recent photos and a video. Photo #3 is from Xmas 2012 and photo #4 is from Xmas 2018.
