Ecco creator trying to get rights back

[Autosaver]

 

"They don't have any plans to pursue it.
There's no risk for [sega] to not put up any money. [They're] not
going to do anything with the game without me. They have nothing to
lose. Nobody will look stupid if I fail." - Ed Annunziata, creator of Ecco



Annuziata has been trying to get SEGA to bite on another Ecco game for
quite some time now. He just recently had another meeting with the
company about pushing the series forward, but SEGA just won't go with
the idea. Annunziata seems convinced that SEGA will let the series die,
which is why he wants the rights.



Check out more of Ecco's journey here

 

 

Ecco is a title that many people have adored, and it is a shame that the series has been ignored. If SEGA isn't going to bother to work with the IP, why not try to take the IP back? At least there will be more Ecco games available. It seems like after SEGA's reconstructure, they're not willing to take as many risks anymore. If it isn't Sonic, then good luck. We saw Bayonetta move to Nintendo for the time being. Why not give Ecco back to Annuziata so he can work with it?

[Crash]

Because the current market aren't interested.

[TheOcelot]

 

Ecco the Dolphin was a fantastic franchise and still is. Fans would love a new game. God, if SEGA aren't prepared to take any safe-ish risks, one wonders how they will survive in the long term.

 

Lets start an ECCO THE DOLPHIN needs you campaign!

 

[Autosaver]

Because the current market aren't interested.

If SEGA makes a fun Ecco game that is marketed, I'm sure people would buy it.

 

Honestly, one thing SEGA fails horribly at is marketing.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Autosaver

[SuperLink]

He's gonna fail because SEGA are dumb and stubborn.

[Speederino]

I really loved Defender of the Future back in the day, even if I treated it more like a dolphin simulator more than an actual game. If he gets the rights back and truly ends up making another game, good. I'd play a sequel to that.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQCNdjXAp6UFuck it, just have him narrate everything from now on.

[Tracker_TD]

To be honest, I think Crash is right.

 

Ecco is a game about a dolphin. Given the current market, and the general premise of games people have come to expect (at least, from the close-mindedness I'm surrounded with everyday, in school particularly), kids, to be blunt, wouldn't be interested, and that'd likely be the target market besides retro SEGA fans. I mean, kids at my school can't muster up excitement about any game that isn't about shooting stuff, they disregard Mario, Sonic, Zelda and such, all fantastic games, as 'childish,' so a game about a dolphin of all things probably isn't going to turn their heads.

 

And I'm sorry, but I genuinely don't think the money from retro SEGA fans will support this game alone. Hell, I'm a considerably die-hard SEGA fan, and Ecco was just... boring to me. I can perhaps see where some appeal came from, but in today's market, I just don't think it would work.

 

Just my opinion though.

[Your Vest Friend]

Maybe if it was spiced up enough it'd do okay. Tokyo Jungle has seen mild success in Japan and Europe, I think.

...Oh, okay, just don't release it in the States and it'll be fine.

[Tornado]

Because the current market aren't interested.

 

To be honest, I think Crash is right.

 

Ecco is a game about a dolphin. Given the current market, and the general premise of games people have come to expect (at least, from the close-mindedness I'm surrounded with everyday, in school particularly), kids, to be blunt, wouldn't be interested, and that'd likely be the target market besides retro SEGA fans. I mean, kids at my school can't muster up excitement about any game that isn't about shooting stuff, they disregard Mario, Sonic, Zelda and such, all fantastic games, as 'childish,' so a game about a dolphin of all things probably isn't going to turn their heads.

 

 

You know, "Sega won't do anything with the franchise because of the market conditions" is kinda the reason why the series creator would like the rights assigned to him so he can try to make a new game anyway.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Tornado

[Clouder]

Never played Ecco. Looked meh.

[Tracker_TD]

You know, "Sega won't do anything with the franchise" is kinda the reason why the series creator would like the rights assigned to him so he can try to make a new game anyway.

 

Thing is, it's not to do with SEGA not doing anything with it-it's more that it just won't sell brilliantly in the current market, to be blunt. As I said, the target market would be those who remembered the original, and possibly kids. And trying to market a game about a dolphin to the current generation, if, as I said, the society I'm surrounded by daily is anything to go by, is a bad idea, in my honest opinion.

[Tornado]

The thread is not "why won't Sega make a new Ecco game." The thread is "the series creator wants the rights to the series so he can give it a try knowing that it might fail." Explaining why it might fail doesn't mean anything. It's already acknowledged by him that it might, and that it won't hurt Sega if it does.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Tornado

[Tracker_TD]

Which still doesn't matter. The thread is not "why won't Sega make a new Ecco game." The thread is "the series creator wants the rights to the series so he can give it a try knowing that it might fail."

Indeedy. But what I'm saying is that, if the creator gets the rights (which suffice to say, regardless of the possible game's turnout I hope he does, given it's his creation), whatever game may come of it won't survive in the current market. I just don't think it would be worth it in the end.

 

I mean, hey- I can't stop the guy from trying, and if he wants to try, I'm fine with that. It's just I don't think the result will be worth it in the end. Granted, as you said, he is aware it may fail, so I suppose I should let up.

 

I don't know, perhaps I'm just a pessimist. 

[Lady Soniko]

Hope he gets his rights back, SEGA can be cunts with stuff like this, just like Nintendo were like with Rare and the Banjo Games.

 

However although this thread isn't about the possibility of a new Ecco game, if he tried, I can see it crashing and burning regardless in this generation's market of gamers.

[SuperLink]

Well that's what's so fantastic about digital releases and indie developers right? It'll do well because fans will know where to find it and buy it, if it's good it'll get supported and word of mouth on those digital platforms too. I bet it'd be a digital game if it happens and that's ok.

[Badnik Mechanic]

This is a box... lets think outside it.

 

If Sega gave/sold this guy the rights. Would it not also impact on the MegaDrive, Mega CD, Master System and Game Gear versions of the game too?

 

Don't forget that Sega have released Ecco on the MegaDrive Ultimate collection, a title which was re-released a month ago under the PS3 Essentials range.

 

Whilst Sega may still be able to re-release the older games on new digital services when they come to light, I bet that if they give this dude the rights to it, they'll run into problems.

[Tornado]

If Sega gave/sold this guy the rights. Would it not also impact on the MegaDrive, Mega CD, Master System and Game Gear versions of the game too?

 

Not if they specify that it doesn't. There's nothing saying that if Sega relinquishes the rights to the series for future titles so he can shop around to publish a new game through someone else that they have to similarly relinquish the publishing rights to the already released titles as well. They don't even have to relinquish the rights to him for any longer than a few years if they want to give him a chance and then take them back in the future. There's no reason that this situation has to turn into a repeat of the types of problems they've had with Toejam and Earl. All of that stuff would be figured out when/if they decided to do it.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Tornado

[MamboCat]

I was thinking along similar lines as Hogfather there... Sega have been doing allright off re-releasing their older games, relying on nostalgic old fans to buy their stuff. It might be they want to keep the rights so they can continue to do so.

 

Also I was thinking, the PS2 Ecco game had some very similar elements but the writer was completely unconnected to the previous games. How did they get around the rights? I don't remember if they credited the original games. :/

[Tornado]

I was thinking along similar lines as Hogfather there... Sega have been doing allright off re-releasing their older games, relying on nostalgic old fans to buy their stuff. It might be they want to keep the rights so they can continue to do so.

 

There's nothing saying that if Sega relinquishes the rights to the series for future titles so he can shop around to publish a new game through someone else that they have to similarly relinquish the publishing rights to the already released titles as well.

 

 

 

Also I was thinking, the PS2 Ecco game had some very similar elements but the writer was completely unconnected to the previous games. How did they get around the rights? I don't remember if they credited the original games. :/

 

There was no rights issue to get around. Sega published the Dreamcast Ecco game, and they let Acclaim publish the PS2 port (as part of the deal that Acclaim managed to get to publish Sega titles while Sega was busy reorganizing themselves as a 3rd Party publisher).

Edited January 30, 2013 by Tornado

[iDEATH]

While I doubt an Ecco game would work as a full release these  days I don't see why a smaller (episodic?) game on psn wouldn't do well if the budget could be kept down.

I'd be all over it on launch day.

 

So yeah, I really hope this goes somewhere, would be much awesome

[Swiss]

No room in the current market for Ecco? Give that dolphin a machine gun and just watch the pennies roll in.

[Candescence]

I personally think Ecco would do much, much better as an indie game rather than a 'mainstream' release published by Sega. I think Ed should have the rights, it's not like Sega is actually doing anything with it.

[blackherox]

If SEGA makes a fun Ecco game that is marketed, I'm sure people would buy it.

 

 

 

 

It really doesn't work like that. A safer bet (if any) would be to release the original on PSN/XBLA or something, see how it sells, and if there sufficient numbers to warrant a sequel, then by all means.

[Milo]

It really doesn't work like that. A safer bet (if any) would be to release the original on PSN/XBLA or something, see how it sells, and if there sufficient numbers to warrant a sequel, then by all means.

 

They've already released it via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection though. And even if they did release it, it would probably sell poorly if it wasn't marketed well-and as previously noted, good marketing and Sega don't really go hand in hand, especially for less popular/new IPs.