Poor Speed Racer movie hindered our game, says Sidhe Interactive

Company
Sidhe

Jos Ruffel, business development executive at Sidhe Interactive, has discussed how the poor reception of the movie Speed Racer hindered the success of their licensed game tie-in at a GCDC 2008 panel. Jos describes how excited the team were to be working on a project of the Wachowski brothers that included fast cars, but it all went undone when the movie tanked at the box office. From Gameindustry.biz...

"(Joe) When you make a game based on a license you really are playing roulette - you don't know how the film is going play out in the market," he said.

"When we were first asked to do Speed Racer the property it was incredible, it was very exciting. It was a film by the Wachowski brothers and it was about car racing - awesome that's going to make a great game."

Sidhe's Speed Racer received a very respectable 69 score at Metacritic, while the movie itself fared terribly with a paltry 37 average score.

It's very much reminiscent of the situation that Krome Studios had with their 2004 movie tie-in, King Arthur. Not much was known about the film, but one could conjure up a great medieval epic, however the movie approached a much more subdued and realistic scenario. Unfortunately for Krome, the movie didn't fare to well with reviewers and audiences alike, only managing a 46 score on Metacritic. Krome's game however, did better with a score between 59 - 61 on last generation's consoles.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 21/08/08 - 9:57 PM Permalink

Isn't this simply part of using a movie license?

If you use a license then you're accepting that your success will PROBABLY be tied to the success of the movie.

I don't think it's fair to come out and blame the movie now. If you're unhappy with being connected to the movie then you shouldn't have used the license.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 21/08/08 - 10:58 PM Permalink

I think your mis-understanding the article. The guy is just stating the potential pitfalls of using a licensed movie title, over wanting people to feel sorry for them.

I personally have alot of respect for Sidhe, Grip Shift was a excellent game. I can see why they went for the license, given the fact its all about racing, and sidhe know how to do racing games quite well.

In regards to King Arthur probably slightly different. I feel that King Arthur is probably not one of Krome's highlights, they have made alot better games. So I think the reason why King Arthur didn't succeed as a game was due to both license problems and just bad quality.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 22/08/08 - 12:02 AM Permalink

...both technically and in game play quality King Arthur was significantly superior to the movie. Krome did a tremedous job realising the movie and the game's success and release was entirely undermined by the movie's lack-lustre reception (amongst other things).

Sidhe's right - it's roulette: there is glory to be gained but the risk is also substantial List the movie tie-ins (of which there are SO many). How many have been successful in their own right? On paper it sounded good. In reality it was poorly delivered. Better luck next time guys.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 22/08/08 - 12:20 PM Permalink

It wasn't even a bad movie. I saw Speed Racer at the theatre three times, and I believe it deserved to do better. I really think most of those reviews were from folks expecting another Matrix, rather than a family-friendly not-so-serious affair. Perhaps the marketing for it was handled wrong and it simply didn't reach the right audience. Some of those race tracks were mind-blowing, there's no doubt in my mind that Sidhe probably made a very awesome game. Unlucky for them that hype was not on their side. :( Hope they at least broke even.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 22/08/08 - 1:24 PM Permalink

Speed racer was one of the only movies I've actually walked out on in the cinema for the first time in ages. It just didn't any believability about it. Art work was interesting, very "hyper".

Submitted by souri on Fri, 22/08/08 - 3:56 PM Permalink

I don't think the Speed Racer cartoon was as big here as it was in the U.S. I remember they did show it on tv once or so in the 80's, but it was never as big as, say, Astroboy or Monkey Magic was here. Now, if they made an Astroboy or Monkey Magic movie, I'll be up for it for sure :D

I saw King Arthur in the theatre however, and that was a bit of a let down. I guess it's an example that the Chris Nolan's idea of plausibility and realism doesn't always work for all movies.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 22/08/08 - 9:56 PM Permalink

I detected the ever so slight influence from Monkey Magic in the latest Jet Li/Jackey Chan movie..

For sure though, I'd be in for a movie based on either of those two.

I didn't even realise speed racer was a cartoon show until you just mentioned it. I just thought it was just a invention by the guys who made the matrix trilogy.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 30/08/08 - 12:19 PM Permalink

Developing licensed games is one way to sustain cashflow if you don't have compelling IP of your own and have a large organization eating away at your finances.

In the case of Sidhe and Speed Racer (ignoring their platitudes about the licence and Wachowski brothers), I can see how it was a quick way for them to earn cash with a bargain budget racing game based on their GripShift game whilst getting up to speed on the Wii hardware at the publisher's expense.

Maybe a good strategic move to keep the studio afloat, but doesn't really build up the studio's credibility, except maybe that they could now be seen by publishers as a good studio for doing ports or cheap Wii/DS titles. Their previous efforts on Jackass only reinforces this view.

Sidhe need to make something better than crap licensed games if they want to up their game.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 30/08/08 - 2:21 PM Permalink

one of the biggest problems with movie license games is that the game developer is not given enough time to work on the title.

movie games would be sooooooo much better if they were given a full dev time, instead of starting < 12 months before the movie comes out.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 30/08/08 - 5:29 PM Permalink

The Speed Racer game was apparently 10 months start to finish, so a Metacritic score of 69% is pretty good under those circumstances IMO. Jackass at 58% aint so flash, but with Gripshift sitting at 70% (and being original IP to boot), and having never delivered what could really be considered and an absolute stinker, they certainly seem to be quietly going about their business and doing better than most (indie devcos) in this part of the world.