Virtual reality is creating a renascence for licensed games. By providing players with a chance to step into familiar worlds and interact with beloved characters, VR has created a new landscape where titles that might be seen as gimmicks on 2D platforms are becoming the hottest things around.
Believe it or not, there was a time when licensed video games were exciting. In fact, some of the best titles on the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo 64 were created using licensed characters and worlds. Batman, Mickey Mouse, Scrooge McDuck, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and James Bond were all featured in games on these systems that are not just fondly remembered, but considered all-time classics. Heck, even Michael Jackson got his own Genesis game in the early 90’s.
It wasn’t until the start of the PlayStation era that games based on pre-existing intellectual property started to gain the stigma they have today. Instead of lovingly crafted masterpieces with interesting mechanics we got quick-turnaround cash grabs designed to promote movies.
Sure, we got the occasional Spider Man 2 or Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, but the vast majority of licensed games in the early and mid 2000’s were absolute shovelware.
Lately, franchises like Rocksteady’s Arkham and Telltale’s The Walking Dead have begun to remind people how exciting, fresh, creative, and fun licensed games can be. However, the best thing that’s happened to this once-great gaming genre isn’t one single game. It’s the emergence of an entirely new platform. Thanks to virtual reality, licensed games are transforming from industry joke, to must-have experiences once again.
Ask any VR fan to name five VR games they’re looking forward to the most and it’s a safe bet that at least three of them will be licensed games. For example, one of the most highly-anticipated VR games right now is Star Trek: Bridge Crew. This is a game that won our award for Most Anticipated VR Game of 2017 and consistently provides headlines that create huge buzz online. People are dying to play this Star Trek title, but lets take a second to remember how unlikely that desire actually is.
In 2013 a game simply titled Star Trek hit store shelves for both console and PC. It was a tie-in for the film Star Trek: Into Darkness, which was releasing that same year. Star Trek was greeted with poor to terrible reviews and sold weakly by all accounts. In fact, the last Star Trek game to even break the high 70’s on review aggregators like Metacritic was Star Trek: Elite Force 2 and that released all the way back in 2003.
For almost 15 years, the Star Trek license has languished and decayed but, somehow, its upcoming VR experience has become a potential hit. It’s not that Bridge Crew is bringing some sort of never-before-seen twist on the franchise. In fact, by PC or Console game standards its a fairly limited experience. Commander-sim mechanics are no stranger to Trek games. No, what’s driving the interest for this game is not what you are playing it’s how you are able to play it.
VR is offering Star Trek fans more than the chance to play a game featuring the universe they love, it’s granting them the ability to step into that universe themselves. Sure, people are excited to press buttons, joke with friends, and complete missions; but more than anything, what they’re really looking forward to is simply inhabiting the world of their dreams.
This shared desire is not being created by just Star Trek games. Next week the internet-breaking sci-fi cartoon Rick and Morty is getting its first VR game as well. Virtual Rick-Ality is right at the top of just about any VR gamer’s wishlist right now and it’s not because it features an open world the size of Manhattan or an infinite number of procedurally generated quests. Again, by traditional standards this game is minuscule. However, that’s not what matters to VR gamers. What interests them most is the chance to inhabit the digital worlds of their fandoms and meet the characters of their favorite show.
It’s like taking a child to Disney World and watching their delight as they meet a man dressed as Mickey. It’s an illusion, but its one that we desperately desire. We want our fantasies to become realities. We want the universes that entertain us to be places we can actually visit. VR is making that possible and, at the same time, it’s restoring the dignity of a gaming genre many of us forgot we even missed.
So what about you? What are the worlds you can’t wait to step into using VR? What characters would you love to meet or become? Let us know in the comments below!
