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LICENCE TO THRILL
Dear Retro Gamer, What has happened to the humble film licence? It felt like a new 8-bit adaptation was being released every week during the Eighties, but now they seem incredibly thin on the ground? Granted, we’ve been blessed recently with new games based on The Terminator, Avatar and RoboCop, but they’re not based on any films. Games based on TV shows seem to be thin on the ground as well, which is particularly galling when rubbish like Neighbours, Postman Pat and Thomas The Tank Engine were all readily available during the Eighties.
To me, these licences were just as much fun as the latest arcade conversion and it’s a real shame that they appear to be dying out. We had a few during the Xbox 360 and PS4 period, but most were still new adventures like Wanted: Weapons Of Fate. Is this the end of the classic subgenre? What a shame. Kind regards, David Greene
You’re right David, it is a shame we don’t get film adaptations like we used to. We can only assume that the cost of the licence makes it too high to consider making them. When you look at how long AAA games now take to make, the film would be a distant memory by the time its accompanying game came out. We’ll send you out a book and try and find one with some movie adaptations in it.