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IP Rights and Wrongs

by Jean-Marc Vincent (February 2005)

The February chapter meting started with IGDA Executive Director, Jason Della Rocca 's comments on a new relationship between IGDA and CMP at the organizational level and its most beneficial consequence for all IGDA members: a drastic reduction in the annual membership fee. Jason also confirmed the Association's ongoing involvement in GDC especially this year with, among other things, the Game Developers Choice Awards, the “Oscars” of the game industry.

Jason's introductory words were followed by a brief presentation given by Ben Mattes, Production Studio Manager, GameLoft Montreal, which develops entertainment content for wireless devices. Ben explained how GameLoft's early association with Ubisoft and thus access to licenses such as Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell have helped the company in gaining a significant market share in the wireless market. To ensure future growth, GameLoft bets on a dual strategy: branching out to new licenses as well as developing original IPs. After the presentations, the audience could admire some of the company's most recent 2D and 3D creations while asking questions to GameLoft developers present at the chapter meeting.

In his presentation entitled “Licensed vs. Original IP”, Jason detailed some of the reasons why the video game industry increasingly turns to Hollywood, or the other industries, to insure regular revenues and minimize business risks. He explained how this situation was affecting the status of game development as an art form, how the over reliance on licensed IPs generates not only a loss in creative freedom but also drains funds away from the game community due to the high costs of acquiring these licenses. Some solutions worth exploring were discussed such as the development of tools to better understand customer behavior so as to rationalize the financial risks inherent to the creation of original IPs; Exploring new business models for game distribution which currently rests under the control of retailers was also suggested as an alternative to the current situation. Members of the audience suggested a video game festival, modeled after the Sundance film festival that would allow independent developers to show off their avant-garde creations while testing the public's reactions to new game concepts.

The second presentation entitled “IP Creation at EA - Past, Present and Future” was delivered by Steve Rechtschaffner, VP & Chief Creative Officer at EA Worldwide Studios. Steve explained to the audience why the licensing model is becoming less attractive due to the associated costs and EA's past, present and future efforts in developing new IPs. He gave us some insights on the creative process involved: How to grow an idea into a concept by collecting as much feedback as possible while not shying away from asking tough questions such as: Does the concept have mass appeal? Does the game leverage anything culturally? Is there an audience ready to embrace it? Is there any competition already out there? Is the concept build on any technical advantage the company may have? Does the game allow players to do things they have never done before or explore worlds where they have never been before? Is the game supported by a meaningful story, and more importantly, how would a gamer describe the game?

Finally, Steve went through some of the challenges facing new IP creators at EA such as following a lengthy step-by-step development process requiring validation before proceeding to the next step. This sometimes implies the need to give some concepts enough time to mature, as the market may not yet be ready to embrace them. In conclusion, Steve noted that any game company that can develop successful new IPs will be highly valued as long as it can find a way to sell enough copies early in a new console cycle to justify the high costs of development.

Altogether, another successful meeting with a bigger than expected audience that ended with the now traditional door prize distribution and networking activities which lasted until the SAT's closure.