Future of gaming? SGN launches first companion game with major Hollywood blockbuster

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Hollywood has not always gotten along well with the tech industry. Most recently the two sectors have clashed bitterly over intellectual property as the film and television industries have long accused tech entrepreneurs of stealing their copyright protected property. The rigid hierarchy of Hollywood also has not meshed well with the tech industry’s disruptive and irreverent style. But now tech and Hollywood’s combative relationship is beginning to change. More and more, Hollywood sees technology companies as a potential collaborator. It is with this new mindset that Fox Digital Entertainment announced today it is partnering with SGN, an independent gaming studio, to launch a mobile game called “The Book of Life: Sugar Smash” alongside it’s new movie “The Book of Life,” which premieres October 17th.

 

The collaboration is the first time a serious mobile game has been launched alongside a movie. Fox believes that by lending its intellectual property out in the form of a mobile game it can create long lasting revenues. SGN believes the partnership can create a new entryway into the iOS app store’s top 10 rankings.

 

“In the past companion games were advertisements, games just for promotional purposes,” said Chris DeWolfe, founder and CEO of SGN. But SGN isn’t a cheesy game maker: the LA studio has put a lot of games into the top 10 on the Apple and Android app stores. Fox’s partnership with SGN shows Hollywood is looking at the gaming space differently.  

 

“If you look at a game like Cookie Jam[one of SGN’s games] it makes hundreds of millions of dollars in its life time, which is as big as a movie,” said DeWolfe. The Book of Life, “is really an extension for the movie. Even after the release in the movie theaters the game will go on.” 

 

More and more movie studios, TV networks and individual celebrities are looking at games as a revenue source. 

 

For example, Kim Kardashian’s recent hit mobile game “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” has certainly shown the power of Hollywood laced mobile games. The app, which features Kardashian’s likeness, was reportedly raking in $700,000 per day this summer. 

 

“She will make more money from that game than from any other project she has ever done. And that says a lot,” said DeWolfe.

 

DeWolfe sees a lot more potential Hollywood-gaming partnerships in the future, especially for LA gaming studios, which have a proximity advantage — an opportunity DeWolfe is quick to point out that Silicon Valley doesn’t have.

“They don’t have those relationships with the studios, networks or the talent. They are all here in LA,” said DeWolfe.

 

DeWolfe was formerly the CEO of MySpace.

 

“We’ve been looking at a lot of [intellectual property] from various deferent folks out there. It just so happened that MySpace, which I founded, was acquired by Fox, so we had some contacts there,” said DeWolfe.

 

While movie-themed mobile games could be a nice revenue boost for Hollywood they also could be a great boost to mobile gaming studios. It won't hurt SGN that Fox will be promoting the Sugar Smash game alongside its movie launch and the Fox lot will feature a large billboard advertising the game.

 

Moreover, having something special in your game is even more important to getting into the top downloaded game rankings on the iOS store. Simply put, games that don’t rank well don’t make money. 

 

“We understand this IP can help with our conversion. They [users] will be more likely to convert because they have IP behind it,” said DeWolf. “If you don’t have polish to a game you can’t get into the top 10 on the app store. IP can add even additional polish into a game.”

 

So important might intellectual property be to the gaming industry's future that SGN is looking to focus a substantial amount of effort on such games. DeWolfe said, “We believe that deals like this will be the normal. Maybe 40 percent of games we will make in the future will have IP attached to them.”

 

“The Book of Life: Sugar Smash” game will be available on iOS and will be release this October.