In an interview with Develop published today, EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau has admitted the days of licensed products for the company are drawing to a close, as the publisher focuses on original titles. Gibeau cited high percentage loyalties and average scores as the largest nails in the licence coffin.
"The days of licensed-based, 75-rated games copies are dead like the dinosaur...percentage royalties you have to pay the licensors are going the wrong way for publishers. The margins are being squeezed. And, to top it all off, the movie-game business is falling apart."
Speaking of the James Bond licence in particular, Gibeau went on to say: "Considering the total amount of money we have to spend on those types of James Bond games, and the total amount of man-hours we had to put into them, we thought; hell, let's work on our own IP. The guys who made James Bond games for us, well yeah, they went on and made Dead Space.
And look where we are now; what would you rather publish, retail and play - the latest James Bond or Dead Space 2?"