DC confirms intent to bring video games into DCU

[boingboing]

Originally published at: DC confirms intent to bring video games into DCU | Boing Boing

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[ZamboniWogglebug]

I don’t have a lot of faith that Gunn is going to be able to make this work. He’s got good instincts for some things, and bad instincts on others. And the kissing-up they’ve been doing to Zaslav makes me suspect his position is a lot weaker than we’ve been led to believe.

But really, two movies and two TV shows a year isn’t that bad. I know the hipster crowd likes to say there need to be no superhero movies ever again, but that obviously is not going to happen.

[carrma]

@boingboing

Really, all I want is a proper sequel to Arkham City. Is that so much to ask?

Yeah, I do, too. The Arkham games were great. I loved the interplay between Mark Hamill’s Joker and Kevin Conroy’s Batman. That said, I don’t know if a sequel would be as fun without those actors.

[snigs]

@ZamboniWogglebug

But really, two movies and two TV shows a year isn’t that bad. I know the hipster crowd likes to say there need to be no superhero movies ever again, but that obviously is not going to happen.

Compare it to the 272 NFL football games they have every year. They’re very formulaic, have the same plot line, same characters. The commentary always refers back to other football games, and they always try to interconnect it with previous football games. They also try to tie the games to video games. That’s about 810 hours of football compared to five hours of DC movies, and maybe (but likely less) 25 hours of TV.

[Shuck]

@boingboing

Given how slow game development can be as opposed to the more turbulent waters of TV and film, the insistence on keeping everything interconnected and a part of one universe are bound to screw over a developer or two as soon as something unexpected happens — and, as the article points out, there’s the obvious cost issue of getting a Hollywood actor to reprise their role (as Gunn’s plan calls for).

Oof, yeah, all of this. If you’re trying to release tie-in games, you want them to come out soon after the movie, which means you start making the game before the final move script has been written, much less cast or filmed. And I don’t know how much of the DC games are studios owned by WB and how many are third-party studios licensing the IP. It makes it hard to dictate continuity of cast and really impossible for them to be consistent with the cinematic universe. (Hell, the constraints and different needs and dynamics of game development make that difficult at the best of times.) A number of times people have tried pairing development of movies/tv shows with games, and it’s never worked. The development processes and schedules are too different.

[gabe_oakes]

Attempts to include video games rarely works. There was a Matrix game which was a side plot to Reloaded, but thats about as integrated as you should ever try for.

[ghostbloke]

Which version of Justice League Task Force will be Elseworlds, SNES or Genesis/Mega Drive?

@gabe_oakes

Attempts to include video games rarely works. There was a Matrix game which was a side plot to Reloaded, but thats about as integrated as you should ever try for.

There was also an MMORPG. After The Matrix Revolutions Neo’s body hadn’t been returned by the Machines and Morpheus went rogue to find out why. It had a terrible crafting system.

[gabe_oakes]

I mostly commented on Enter the Matrix because it really was intended as a companion piece to the films- the player takes the roles of supporting characters from the film and the events of the game are things that happened in the film, albeit offscreen. Less sure about the MMORPG in that respect.

[anon52120741]

cross posting response from developers that have recently worked on comic related games. They are not happy

James Gunn reveals the timeline for his DC multimedia universe

Another thing not mentioned here is that they are planning to use games to tell additional, in-continuity, stories that cover what happens in-between the movies and tv series. So basically take the problem that you have with Marvel where you have to watch all the movies, and all the Disney+ series in order to understand everything going on. Now also add multiple 20 to 60 hour games to that. I’m not sure that people are going to like this ETA: Rocksteady is also unhappy about it