Who gets the WWE license?

[Mistah Showtime]

Activision gets WWE license?!

Details were recently released in the WWE/Jakks/THQ bribery case as the WWE appeal was lost. Interesting and slightly troubling was the news that Activision was actually a high bidder for the WWE license. Everyone who cringes at how Activision treats licenses like Guitar Hero can only imagine the level of franchise whoring that would take place if they had their hands on WWE games. It would make Yukes and THQ look like Human and Spike by comparison. Here's where it get's really interesting, though. Court documents revealed that Jakks and sublicensor THQ lose the WWE license at the end of this year anyway after which it reverts to...Mattel.



Rather interesting article if you ask me. I only wonder who will actually be making the next WWE games. Could 2010 be the last WWE game we see for the next couple of years? I know I'm eagerly awaiting an answer. If anyone else has any news on this, please post it.

[j]

Ahhh shit...

[spyder78]

The way I see it, I'd rather see a WWE game released every few years with downloadable updates coming out regularly instead of a game being released every year with just a few different changes from the previous year.Hopefully WWE will be able to get a contract with a better Game Developer. Maybe EA Sports? After all Wrestling is a Sport, and EA Sports make some great Football, Rugby, Golf etc.

[j]

Yeah but I'd imagine that the CAW mode would be less detailed than SVR's currently, and formulas nearly impossible if you played fight night or Tiger Woods lol there are no figures.

[maniac71690]

May 22, 2009 15:36:24 GMT -5 @spyder78 said:

Maybe EA Sports?

*cries over the memory of WCW Mayhem game.*

[jag]

won't be EA sports i'd say maybe Rockstar they said they are interested in the product but now with the move to PG i cant see them hooking on to ne thing that cant have hookers in it humping in a car.

It would be nice if one of the Japanese houses would pick up the contract and make No Mercy 2010 or what ever that would be a nice game be better if spike got it and made a game as deep as Fire Pro WWE style.

[maniac71690]

ugh at the thought of a fire pro style WWE game. the graphics are bad even for a 2D game(yes graphics do matter to a degree with me). I despised the controls. I just can't stand the Fire Pro Games at all. I prefer the way SvR is now. Sure it's not at it's best, but definitely better than Fire Pro to me.

I hope whoever gets the license, puts out games with SvR's gameplay at the very least.

[spyder78]

SVR graphics and the depth of FPR would be a sweet combination thou...

[jag]

May 22, 2009 18:49:21 GMT -5 @maniac71690 said:

ugh at the thought of a fire pro style WWE game. the graphics are bad even for a 2D game(yes graphics do matter to a degree with me). I despised the controls. I just can't stand the Fire Pro Games at all. I prefer the way SvR is now. Sure it's not at it's best, but definitely better than Fire Pro to me.

I hope whoever gets the license, puts out games with SvR's gameplay at the very least.

i said as deep not a WWE version of fire pro. and i really like FP series for what it is a 2d game that let u play as 1000's of wrestlers most in NA never even heard of. as for the controls of SVR now i hate them more then i did No Mercy when i first played it the UCM's are shit

[spyder78]

Yeah I liked the controls of HTCP, they were by far the best IMO,lol

[J-PyRo]

Gotta love PWXDave and spreading shit while ranting about people not taking him seriously. Until I see it on Wrestlezone or IGN I claim "fake." But, another developer could be a good move, as long as they get all of the CAW stuff in tact or pay attention to the last real good CAW mode back in 2006...

[jag]

Look though the court docs they are online what was said in the articles posted above are in the main body of the docs plus i have heard thru a friend in the gaming industry that there is a big japanese company that is looking into getting the contract. Either way if THQ keeps it or losses it i cant see them improving it if they keep it and it will be a few yrs for a new company to get it somewhat close to right.

Look at Midway and the TNA game everyone was hyping it thru the roof before it came out and when it did tore it a new asshole. new company will mean paitence will be needed by the community till they have a handle on what they want to project as a WWE product.

[maniac71690]

Midway is a bad comparison to me on a new company needing patience with lol. They were putting crappier and crappier Mortal Kombat games and people still expected a good TNA game lol.

More than likely if someone other than THQ gets the rights you'll see a new series instead of a continuation of SvR series. Shame though since they put out Legends of WrestleMania(which I enjoyed) and UFC Undisputed 2009(which i want to play despite hating MMA)

I say stay with THQ and build on CAF, career mode concept(which again I enjoyed just felt it needs a little tweaking), and Road To WrestleMania. Go another company and it'll probably go backwards to start out and people will bitch non-stop about how much the game sucks. Course I could be wrong, but I doubt I'll be 100% wrong. lol

Edit: Plus a game as deep as Fire Pro Returns wouldn't sell. Maybe if it was a computer game, but as a console game. Casual gamers do usually like to create things in games with create modes, but they don't want to spend a long time making it and even longer learning how to make it lol.

[jag]

HAHA since it isnt the casual gamers that buys the game year in year out i think they THQ or who ever gets the contract should do their homework for a change and see what the people that buy the game would like to see since it IS them that are spending hard earned cash to make the game viable as a release every year. and the deeper the game play the better the game would be even if they had an option to fast create and one for the people that want to control very aspect of their creation. Lord knows that there is a large portion of SVR gamers that spend way too much time on their creations.

Plus a game as deep as Fire Pro Returns wouldn't sell.

lol have you looked into how many FPR's were sold for a 5 yr old game that is 2D it sold really well.

[maniac71690]

Actually the casual gamers do buy it year in and year out joining the fanbase as long as you continue to appeal to them. And any intelligent company wants to continue to bring in new fans. FPR sounds great on paper. Sounds like the wrestling game dream. However, the casual gamers which are the ones you want to bring in to have more fanbase to continue making games, usually don't want to have to spend a good amount of time learning timing just to have a good gaming experience.

FPR isn't new player friendly which can turn off a lot of people on it. You either love or you hate FPR. There's no room to really just like it or consider it an average gam

[!!!PUNCH!!!]

I seriously doubt WWE will go anyplace else but back with THQ for the license, and that's if this ruling is even true. Like Pyro said, until I see something posted officially, be it my THQ, WWE or both, I call shenanigans. But when the license does lapse in 2010, I highly...HIGHLY doubt WWE will go elsewhere. They've been in bed with THQ for over 10 years, and for the most part the marriage has worked. WWE risks losing tons of quid if they sell the license to another company and the game bombs IMPACT style, whereas at least with THQ you know you'll get a solid product (Solid, not perfect.) That'd be like EA's license with the NFL running out, and then the NFL selling the license to...I dunno...Square/Enix. A company with NO experience developing a Football game, or sports games in general. That's what you have to take into consideration. How many publishers have attempted Wrestling Games over the last 10 years? Over the last 15 years? And how many of those games have been GOOD? All roads point in the same direction, THQ & Yukes.

I personally predict that when the license ends in 2010, WWE will cook a new deal with THQ that's more favorable to them, because they know what kind of product they'll get. And the success that UFC: 2009 is having since it's release only helps THQ's case even more. They've made the definitive MMA game, literally from scratch, so in that you KNOW THQ knows what it's doing when they have full reign over developing a game. And SVR:09 is the best game in the series since HCTP, and can only get better once they fix some of the stupid stuff like stat building and adding more diversity to the CAF mode. In the end, WWE wants to make money. And they make as much if not more money on the SVR games as they do any piece of merchandise they sell. You risk losing millions selling your license to a company that has little or no experience making a wrestling game. A few years ago, I would have personally chosen EA as a rightful successor, but that was when they had AKI Corporation (Now Syn Sophia Inc.) in their pocket. But they don't anymore, so whatever they could have done using the Revenge Engine is out of the window. Now if Syn Sophia Inc moved in and sucked up the license, then all hail the greatest wrestling game ever made, because that's what we'd be getting. But I highly doubt that will happen, since the company itself is still relatively small even to this day, hence they teamed up with THQ and EA as publishers for the WCW/WWF and Def Jam games respectively.

In the long run, don't hold your breath about WWE going anywhere far from THQ. Not unless some other company has a spanking new, revolutionary wrestling game engine they've been sitting on. And in this day and age where the FPS rules console gaming, that's got about as much a chance of happening as seeing a GTA game on the Wii.

[chelsea.staub]

There's a GTA game on the DS.
I can see it happening on the Wii. XD

[J-PyRo]

GTA Wii would be pretty sweet to pistol whip a sumbitch with the Wii-chucks...