14 DAY TRIAL // The developers at Funtactix have announced that they are working on a social game tie-in which will be launched on March 23, the same date that Lionsgate releases the movie adaptation of the well-received novels aimed at teenagers.
A number of video game companies have tried to cash in popular movies with games that use the same universe and the same characters but more often than not the resulting experiences were uninspiring and players were not interested in spending time with them.
The developers at Funtactix, who have already worked on games linked to both Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Rango, believe that social games can arrive alongside movies and can lead to more engagement from fans.
Sam Glassenberg, who is the leader of the development studio, has told Gamasutra that, “The console-based film games business is rapidly disappearing. The game quality has fallen for years, and consumers have come to realize this, resulting in a collapse of the console-movie-games market.”
He added, “The production cycle for a good console game has grown to two to three years, which is longer than the production window for a film. Hitting day-and-date on a quality game is a near impossibility.”
The social-focused and browser-powered games that Functactix creates are also easier to pick up and play than traditional console-based titles and can be better used to promote the movies that are linked to the player base.
It seems that the social tie-in for The Hunger Games will focus more on the exploration and the adventure elements of the book series rather than on the bloody killing of children that makes up much of the action part.
Players are able to create their own characters and then compete with friends to complete quests, create their own forest hideouts and interact with the core characters of the series.
Microtransactions will be offered for both cosmetic items and energy packs that allow interested fans to do more in the game.