The THQ auction not only had the gaming world talking, but it also had us here at The Koalition getting very creative. We started questioning whether or not the different franchises were a good fit at their new homes. Ultimately, we began to think about franchises and companies outside of THQ. What games would do better on another platform? What games should or shouldn’t be exclusive? Which publishers would do a better job on certain franchises? It was almost like we were doing a fantasy draft of the whole gaming industry in general.
We played this game below by naming a few franchises and developers and giving a brief explanation on why we feel they would perform better with another publisher or platform.
My Picks:
Rare to Nintendo: If you grew up on games like Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, and Donkey Kong Country then you knew there was a special kind of magic that Rare had with Nintendo. I can only imagine what the Wii and Gamecube would have been if Rare was still a primary second-party Nintendo developer. Send them back home Microsoft!
Saints Row to Electronic Arts: Sure EA gets a ton of hate nowadays, but it would be an interesting development. They were trying so hard to get their hands on the GTA franchise a few years back because they saw it as an opportunity to get into the sandbox games arena. With a landmark series like GTA on their plate, it would have been very interesting to see what ideas they could have brought to the table. I feel like the Saints Row franchise, even though its popular has nothing to lose with EA. That was obviously a different story when it came to Mass Effect.
Gary’s Picks:
Call of Duty to Dice: Let’s be real, Call of Duty’s repetition is getting really tiring and in my personal opinion Battlefield 3 was the best militant FPS released in the past two years. Sadly Battlefield 3 doesn’t have the same influence that Activision’s Call of Duty does. So what if the team behind Battlefield 3 developed a Call of Duty game? It might just be the best thing to ever happen to FPS in years.
Pro Evolution Soccer to 2K: Pro Evo was once considered the best football (Soccer for the Americans) franchise in gaming. Eventually Fifa evolved once EA learned how to give footy fans what they really wanted, meanwhile Konami fell behind with innovations to Pro Evo. 2K sports is obviously a huge threat to EA right now, so what if Pro Evo was instead handled by 2K? It would be very interesting to say the least.
Jake’s Picks:
WWE License to Electronic Arts: Being the conglomerate they are in the gaming industry, EA has a lot of resources available to take any game property to the extreme in both design and marketing. With all the various big name licenses they have obtained throughout the years within the sports genre, EA is a force to be reckoned with. Hence why it would be a match made in heaven if EA was able to get a hold of the WWE license to make wrestling games on all the platforms. Not only would such a move allow WWE to be widely available and publicize among all areas of gaming, but it would also make way for many different kinds of wrestling games to be developed, outside of the simulation games like WWE ‘13.
The resources at EA’s disposal would also give them the ability to really delve into the history and long ignored aspects of WWE wrestling, including time-frames, wrestlers, and design choices that may have been skipped due to budgeting and license issues. With a move like this, and given their work on the NBA Jam reboot, we could very well see a better arcade style wrestling game with the WWE license from a company like EA. Wresltemania The Arcade Game reboot anyone? Hell Yeah.
Darksiders to Square Enix: Square Enix has recently garnered a reputation of bringing out the best in gaming IPs that have been dropped, struggled, or long forgotten. Given the recent trials and tribulations that the Darksiders franchise has gone through with THQ’s demise, it would be perfect if Square Enix picked up the task with the franchise. Outside of Final Fantasy and many of their other big name titles, Square Enix is more than capable of making Darksiders a popular fantasy/action franchise.
Square Enix has the craft and creative minds to not only give a fresh new look to Darksiders, but also the ability to really take the series in a great direction in story elements and gameplay mechanics. The RPG and action elements laid out in Darksiders 2 could be improved upon and enhanced in another entry into the series with Square Enix’s attention to detail and ability to provide hours of content into their titles. A franchise like Darksiders needs a company like Square Enix to bring out the infinite potential it has to be a major contemporary blockbuster series.
This concludes our list of picks for the publisher fantasy draft. Do you agree or disagree with our choices? Do you have any franchises in mind that you would like to see in the hands of other platforms or publishers? Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
