Kotaku: Licensing

EA Lawsuit Doesn't Mean Madden's Exclusive is a License to be Killed

Owen Good — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST

Madden's Exclusive is a License to be Killed" alt="Click here to read EA Lawsuit Doesn't Mean Madden's Exclusive is a License to be Killed" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2012/01/small_91d9734d95426ce62df8cae458ef6210.jpg"/>

Of all ironies, it's Electronic Arts now asking a judge to rule that some video game depictions of real-life names and symbols and products don't need a license. More »

Mega Bloks Feels The Need For Speed

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:20:00 EST

After successfully moving into the video game space with a line of Mega Blok Halo construction sets, Mega Brands sets its sights on a racier video game license: EA's Need for Speed. How's that going to work? More »

THQ Explores Mind-Body Medicine And Spirituality With Deepak Chopra

Mike Fahey — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EDT

Renowned champion of new age spirituality and alternative medicine Dr. Deepak Chopra will soon be reaching a whole new audience, as THQ signs a multi-year licensing agreement to create games based on his teachings. More »

You'll Never Want to Turn Off this Street Fighter HDTV

Owen Good — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:30:00 EDT

Street Fighter HDTV" alt="Click here to read You'll Never Want to Turn Off this Street Fighter HDTV" src="http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/9/2010/05/prnphotos093057.jpg"/>

Now, I love Street Fighter, and I love big ass TVs, but when my friend calls and is all "LOL, turn on Judge Mathis!" I don't want to wait eight seconds while the screen shows me a picture of Ryu. More »

Hey Kids, Now You Can Ride Sonic (the Rollercoaster)

Owen Good — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST

You'll have to visit the Alton Towers Resort in the U.K., but Sega Europe has inked an "exclusive video game rights" deal with the amusement park, which includes a "ride and stay experience." Can we please have more double entendres? More »

4Kids Grabs Mini Ninjas

Mike Fahey — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:20:00 EDT

It looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of Eidos' Mini Ninjas in the future, as film and television production company 4Kids Entertainment becomes the property's global licensing agent. More »

Blizzard Taps Razer For Official StarCraft II Gear

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:20:00 EDT

Blizzard has teamed up with PC peripheral manufacturer Razer to create a line of tournament-grade accessories for next year's hottest real-time strategy title. More »

Today's Punishment: The Nintendo Cereal System

Owen Good — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Even though it's only 30 seconds, and you'll probably make it all the way through, today's punishment is having that obnoxious goddamn "NIN-TEN-DO!!!!" stuck in your head for the rest of the day. More »

THQ And Jakks Square Off Over WWE License Renewal

Mike Fahey — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:20:00 EDT

It's a no holds barred legal struggle between partners Jakks Pacific and THQ over when and if they should renew their licensing agreement with the WWE, set to expire at the end of this year. More »

EA Gets Ludlum, Starbreeze Does Bourne

Mike Fahey — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:20:00 EST

Ludlum Entertainment has struck a deal with Electronic Arts, granting them exclusive worldwide rights to the works of author Robert London, with a new Jason Bourne game currently in development at Starbreeze Studios. More »

Big Game Plans For Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time

Mike Fahey — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:20:00 EST

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series is one of those fantasy series that I always wanted to read but never gotten around to. Now might be a good time though, as film studio Red Eagle Entertainment readies not only big-screen adaptations of the novels, but video games as well. They've just launched Red Eagle Games, a video game publishing company that will oversee the release of video games to coincide with the launch of the movies. Red Eagle producer Rick Selvage explains the company's plans. More »

Jeffrey Steefel on LOTRO Expansion, MMO Culture

Maggie Greene — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a nice interview up with Turbine producer Jeffrey Steefel, mostly centered on the Lord of the Rings Online forthcoming Mines of Moria expansion — also discussed are things like how Steefel perceives LOTRO's performance, expansion features, and issues of designing for a license. While WoW is wide open, not being tied to anything but itself, LOTRO has slightly more constraints in what can — or should — be done. Steefel doesn't see this as a problem, however: More »

Atari Games Too Bad to be True

Owen Good — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:00:00 EDT

Watercooler Games saw this earlier in the week and gave a detailed deconstruction of how a Free the Falklands! concept would be graphically impossible on the Atari 2600. I took one look and knew it was satire because one of the writers for this site, Jason Torchinsky, is a comedian and a name I remember as the editorial cartoonist of The Daily Tar Heel back when I was at N.C. State's Technician in the early 1990s. More »

Turbine and Tolkien Sitting In A Tree

Mike Fahey — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:20:16 EST

Most people who've actually gotten a chance to play a bit of Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online have to admit that the company has done a damn fine job in handling Tolkien's work in a respectful fashion. Apparently the Tolkien folks agree, as the two companies have signed an agreement granting Turbine the license to create online games based on the Lord of the Rings books up through the year 2014, with an option to extend the rights to 2017.

"We have had a wonderful working relationship with Turbine over the past several years," said Albert M. Bendich, Executive Vice President of The Saul Zaentz Company, and its merchandising division Tolkien Enterprises. "We look forward to our continuing success with Turbine as it pushes the envelope for compelling online entertainment and gameplay to bring the compelling characters of Middle-earth to life for Tolkien fans around the world."

Those TE folks aren't pushovers either, nearly single-handedly bringing about the downfall of Iron Crown Enterprises by pulling the license on their Middle Earth Role-Playing Game. Good show Turbine! More »

2K

Mark Wilson — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:20:46 EST

2K Games has licensed the Unreal Engine 3 for multiple "unannounced games in development." Many of you will remember that Bioshock was UE3 based, and while this news doesn't point to "ZOMG Bioshock 2," it does lend a bit of credence to the capabilities and ease of use of the UE3 engine...a reputation that's been in question by some, especially with 2K's president going on record to say things like "2K had a very positive experience working with Epic's Unreal Engine 3 since it enables games to perform exceptionally well on both console and the PC." Plus, wow, we can't believe Bioshock 2 has been announced with such little fanfare (joke, btw, I don't want to see that quote floating around the internet this afternoon....maybe I should delete it...nah.) Here's the full tale from the mouth of PR. More »

Major League Eating Game Coming Soon

Mark Wilson — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:40:41 EST

Mastiff has acquired the hottest license since EA snagged rights to the NFL—Major League Eating. They'll be producing MLE: The Game for unspecified platform(s), an experience celebrating gastrointestinal warfare through burps, belches and "mustard gas." Games should note the bold inclusion of a full twelve food groups—at least seven more food groups than man has ever attempted to identify before. Before you hit the jump for the best press release we've seen all day, catch this quote from Mastiff head hancho Bill Swartz:

Major League Eaters aren't just elite athletes. They are the people who built America. Or at least the competitive eating part of America. And I am deeply honored that the International Federation of Competitive Eating and Major League Eating choose Mastiff as their exclusive videogame partner.

We are too, Mastiff. We are too. More »

Eggebrecht - Licensed or Little IPs Good, Big IPs Bad

Mark Wilson — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:30:30 EDT

Factor Five's Julian Eggebrecht, following what's started as a shaky response to Lair, has reassessed his position on licensing IPs. Addressing a crowd in roundtable discussion, here was his experiential advice. More »

Fox Goes into Halo Merchandising

Kim Phu — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:40:00 EDT

20th Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising has announced a partnership with Microsoft where they will be the licensing agent for the Halo franchise: More »

Ben 10 Tapped For Video Game

Mike Fahey — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 12:20:47 EST

Cartoon Network has awarded D3Publisher of America the video game rights to the popular cartoon Ben 10, which features a young boy named Ben who discovers an alien device that allows him to transform into different alien heroes, each with their own unique form and powers. It's kind of like the old DC Dial H for Hero comic. Speaking of which, someone needs to secure those rights. Dial H would make an awesome game...just think of the downloadable community created content possibilities alone. Boggles the mind it does. More »