Of all the categories of licensing and merchandising opportunities, the one that has suddenly shot into prominence recently is interactive game licensing and merchandising. Consider the scenario today. Games like Super Mario Brothers and Lara Croft have attracted the kind of cult following and status that entice movie makers and marketers to enter into licensing and merchandising arrangements with the license holders in order to leverage this vast market. Sports and media players also see this as a giant opportunity to drive their licensing and merchandising initiatives. Game developers are becoming the new superstars of the software-entertainment universe. In the year 2000 itself, games like Gran Turismo made more money than any movie in history.
Mario has been one of the most successful games in gaming history, with the quirky character inspiring successful spin-offs like books, comics, toys and board games. In 1993, the game achieved a breakthrough with a movie based on its characters. Although a flop by box-office standards, it was a giant step forward for interactive games, in the sense that, for the first time, a game was deemed popular enough for movie makers to feel that it could be made into a movie with commercial appeal. This paved the way for other games like Lara Croft and Mortal Kombat to license their properties to movies. In fact, the Lara Croft game is one of the greatest success stories of interactive gaming. The character has been used for promotions by product brands like Taco Bell and Lucozade. A highly successful movie was made on the character. Other appearances for Lara Croft have been in a music video with a German band in their number one hit, and on tour with the Irish rock band U2. If Mario and Mortal Kombat showed what was possible, Lara Croft realized that promise and showed the gaming industry a preview of the future.
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