14 DAY TRIAL // Hollywood is making its presence felt in almost any part of our daily lives, and gaming is no exception. We've seen game-based movies and movie-based games, so it seems that the two branches of entertainment are slowly but surely going to intertwine, and franchises that have, from the start, planned out a movie, a game and even a comic book, similar to Dead Space, will become something normal.
Yesterday we reported on how big gaming company Electronic Arts had acquired the rights to the IPs (Intellectual Properties) belonging to Ludlum Entertainment, including the famous Bourne series of books and movies. With the sales failure of Vivendi's The Bourne Conspiracy, which didn't impress movie fans as it didn't portray the likeness of Matt Damon, who plays Jason Bourne in the films, EA does seem to have its work cut out for it.
But a high ranking representative of the Ludlum estate, Keith Boesky, isn't worried about it, as EA has proven that it can transform an existing IP into a very successful game that will appeal to fans worldwide. “EA came in the strongest, had the best take on the property, and they know how to grow the IP and have unquestioned worldwide market reach,” he said. “We're dealing with grown ups now.”
The fact that EA secured the rights to Robert Ludlum's IPs for ten years has had much to do with John Riccitiello, the current CEO of the company, which was close to getting the rights in 2005, when Activision had purchased them. Also, it seems that EA might schedule the game to be launched at the same time the fourth Bourne movie will be released in theaters, in summer 2010.
Until we can get the chance to play as Jason Bourne once again, we can still enjoy the movies that Universal Studios have launched over the years and play Vivendi's game.