According to reports officials from Warner Brothers are to planning fluctuate the licensing fees paid by publishers for their properties, according to how well the resultant games are received by reviewers.
According to Jason Hall, senior VP of the newly formed Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, "The game industry has had its time to exploit movie studios all day long and to get away with producing inferior products. But, with Warner Brothers, no more."
Hall has mentioned sites such as GameRankings.com, Metacritic.com and GameStats.com specifically, indicating that future Warner Bros. licensed games must achieve at least a 70% rating or incur an increase in royalty rates.
However, this tough stance has already caused controversy in relation to
Enter the Matrix which despite making $250 million world-wide was critically panned by most reviewers.
Hall has been adamant that “sales don’t equal quality” but Atari boss Bruno Bonnell, whose company publishes
Enter the Matrix, has claimed that, “I will never, ever sign this sort of agreement, which effectively insults our business."
Source:
Hollywood Reporter
