Verisign‘s mobile games publishing unit, Ojom, has signed a deal with Sony to produce mobile games from select movie and TV shows. Titles in Ojom’s initial licensing agreement include: Men in Black, Jerry Maguire, Charlie’s Angels, and the television series “Starsky and Hutch”. Their is strong competition to obtain the rights for strong brands such as hit movies, since few of them have digital rights up for sale. However, Jill Braff — VP of marketing for Sorrent — has said that games based on movies have a very short shelf life. I think the games sell well while the movie is in the cinema and the hype machine is in overdrive, but quickly drop off after that. The movies mentioned in the press release are well-passed their hype date, so I’m not sure they’ll be very successful…that being said some games based on movie are continual best sellers because the game is actually very good — but they would probably be good sellers anyway.
A quick glance at the Ojom site revealed some pretty good games — or at least a wide variety of games that look good. Duke Nukem is a good brand, and Action Twister lets you navigate a maze by turning your phone, which identifies where it is through a camera. There’s a card-based game called Elemental Masters, and the PC strategy game Emporer — which misses an opportunity because the multiplayer mode involves passing the handset among friends rather than using the phones most distinguishing feature. However, the best would have to be Foto Fighter, which involves taking pictures of people which the software converts into monsters that battle each other online. “Manage a full horde of monsters: improve their skills, train them, analyze statistics, map out your strategies and dare challenge the best monster herders in the world. Maybe you will lead the online rankings soon!” Makes the best of all the assets of mobiles…
ScienceDaily also has a good round-up of the mobile game business.
Related stories:
–Boonty Launches Web-2-Mobile Games Store
–RealNetworks Acquiring Mobile Game Company For $15 Million
–InfoSpace Brings 3D Mobile Gaming to 2D Handset Users
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