Licensed games are too rushed and buggy, says Eurocom

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Eurocom, developer of titles based on Batman, Harry Potter and James Bond, has slated poor quality licensed titles that fail to take advantage of the source material.

As a developer that specialises in games based on licensed products, Eurocom is in a better position than most to comment on the state of the most-maligned practise in the industry.

“There are still too many rubbish licensed games that are obviously rushed and buggy, and don’t seem well designed to appeal to their target audience,” said Hugh Binns, co-founder of Eurocom, in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

Speaking of the pitfalls that face developers when working on a title based on licensed property, Binns added: “There are challenges with any license. There is often a limited amount of time due to a critical release date, which can be compounded by the number of dependencies around assets and reference delivery.”

“Approvals can also be challenging. There are generally many stakeholders involved with licenses and you have to take the time to fully understand everyone’s view and come up with a creative approach that makes for a great game whilst remaining faithful to the underlying IP,” he added.

However, Binns does believe that the overall quality of licensed product has improved.

“The standard of licensed games has steadily risen and many have a good mix of innovative features along with more familiar mechanics,” stated Binns.

He also added that games based on licensed products are liable to come out worse for wear after a brush with the specialist press.

“I do think many of the best licensed games are marked too low, especially by the hardcore press. It’s very difficult for a game based on a mass market license to achieve a score beyond the mid-to-high 70s,” he commented.

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On a completely unreleated yet eerily related note, Ian Sneap's children go to my school.