Age of the Geek

What's In A Name?
 
     Franchises are worth a lot.
     Write a book about two space wizards stuck on a hostile planet and it might get a second look from hardcore sci-fi fans. Slap the words "Star Wars" on the cover though and you've got a best seller on your hands.
     A so-so movie about an alien hiding on Earth who attracts the attention of his own kind, resulting in drama and mass destruction. In 2011 this movie was called "I Am Number Four" and it made $55 million domestically. In 2013 it was called "Man of Steel" and it made $291 million.
     Sometimes branding is used to inform consumers. People rush out to see the latest Marvel Studios movie not just because they have a particular attachment to the characters, but because Marvel Studios has a proven track record of making entertaining movies.
     On the flip side, branding can also be used to exploit consumers as well. The comic book side of Marvel, along with DC, practically runs on this practice. A depressing number of books could never justify their cover price if they weren't standing on the shoulders of better stories that came before. It's an industry almost completely dependent on consumers buying books out of habit or loyalty to a character, with the merits of the creative team coming in a distant second on the list of priorities.
     But while the comic book industry may crash and burn before they allow new characters to replace established ones, something interesting has been happening in the video game industry lately.
     It started with Mega Man, or rather, a lack of Mega Man. What was once one of Capcom's most beloved franchises has been inexplicably absent from the market in recent years. Capcom, a company best known for releasing six different versions of "Street Fighter II," hasn't put out a new Mega Man game since 2010.
     Fans wanted a new Mega Man game, but Capcom wouldn't make one.
     So what did Keiji Inafune, one of Mega Man's original creators, do about it? He left Capcom, started his own company called Comcept, and began development on "Mighty No. 9," which is, for all intents and purposes, the next Mega Man game.
     It looks like Mega Man, it presumably plays like Mega Man, it's produced by the creative minds that made Mega Man. While Capcom has made games that are Mega Man in name only, Comcept is making a game that is Mega Man in everything but the name.
     And Inafune is just one of a few high profile game developers who have broken off from their corporate overlords and gone solo in recent years. Koji Igarashi, who pioneered the "Metroidvania" style games in the Castlevania franchise, left Konami last year. At the time, I mused that he might "pull an Inafune" and create his own Castlevania knock-off.
     Last week he did just that, announcing a Kickstarter for "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night," a spiritual successor to Igarashi's Castlevania work.
     Likewise, thanks to Kickstarter, there's a new adventure game on the way called "Yooka-Laylee," a spiritual successor to "Banjo-Kazooie."
     Created by Rare in the late 90s, "Banjo-Kazooie" was one of the defining games of that generation. The intellectual rights are currently owned by Microsoft, who has little affiliation with the original developers and has done precious little with the franchise. Instead, the creative talent behind the beloved platformer, now working under Playtonic Games, are making a new franchise to replace the one they can't legally continue.
     In all three cases we're seeing gamers flock towards talent, rather than brand recognition. Igarashi said that his former bosses at Konami didn't think his style of gothic exploration would sell. 29,000 backers raising more than $2 million in under a week say otherwise.
     This leaves me wondering how much power franchises really have when they're put to the test. Konami still owns the Castlevania name, but how much is that name worth now that it has direct competition from the guy who built the franchise in the first place?
     What will happen if Capcom decides to make another Mega Man game? Will the fandom embrace it, or will they abandon it for the new franchise?
     (Honestly, they'll probably buy both.)
     More importantly, could this demand for popular creators to continue their work outside of corporate owned franchises translate to other mediums? Maybe we're on the verge of a new generation of intellectual property not owned by Warner Brothers or Disney. At the very least, the added competition might get them to step up their game and not rest on their laurels.
 
     Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and is still a sucker for pretty much anything owned by Disney.