1. Intellectual Property (IP)
Franchised IP:
To give the right or privilege.
Characters and setting are licensed.
Authorisation to use licensed material is given by the licensor to a licencee.
Example(s): Batman and the Avengers, Spiderman etc.
Batman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by artist Bob Kane and
writer Bill Finger. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), and
since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics. Originally referred to as
"The Bat-Man" and still referred to at times as "The Batman", he is additionally known as
"The Caped Crusader", "The Dark Knight", and "The World's Greatest Detective," among
other titles.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman
General Story:
The character of Batman is a man named Bruce Wayne who is a millionaire playboy,
industrialist and philanthropist. As a boy his parent are murdered in front of him and
swears to take revenge on all criminals. Having no real super powers he uses
gadgets and technology developed by him and the company he owns.
There are several villains in the series such as: The Joker, Penguin, Bane, Poison
Ivy and etc. There’s also a cat woman who is a more neutral evil character. She is
greedy and loves to make money any way possible but has a soft spot for batman.
The batman franchise has spawned a few popular games e.g: Arkam city and Arkam
Asylum.
2. Speculation:
I believe the Batman franchise is successful because it successfully tells its story to
its fans in the films, comic books and games. While some of the films were a failure
due to poor directing the better ones were great improvements as well as its games
being well made and fast paced fun. There’s also a tendency for most male gamers
(12-35) to be fans of super heroes so this also helps explain why both the recent
films and games were successful.
Serialised Original IP:
Created from scratch (often inspired by other copyrighted works) and then built into a series.
Example(s): The Warhammer series, Mass effect series and the Halo series.
The left image is the Space Marines battling Orks while the Right image is of the Chaos Traitors.
Warhammer 40,000 (informally known as Warhammer 40k or simply 40k) is a tabletop
miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science-fantasy
universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic
companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics. Expansions for
Warhammer 40,000 are released from time to time which give rules for urban, planetary
siege and large-scale combat. The game is currently in its sixth edition, which was published
at the end of June 2012.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000
General Story:
Warhammer has two distinct settings: The 40k universe and the med-evil like fantasy version of
Warhammer Fantasy battle. Warhammer 40,000 being the more known of the two has gone on to
have many games including the Warhammer 40,000 and 40k 2 games which both have had many
expansions. And more recently the Warhammer 40k Space Marine game which was a third person
shooter where the player took on the role of a human soldier known as a space marine and
attempted to save a imperium “Forge world” which is a planet only used for the production of war
machines and equipment from the Ork invasion and later Chaos infestation. Space marines in a
3. nutshell are genetically engineered super humans who possess immense physical and psychic
power.
Other Races:
They are the strongest force the imperium of man control. The other races in the series are as
follows: The Tau, a young and the most technologically sophisticated civilization of aliens that work
for the "Greater good" of their empire and its inhabitants. (My personal favourite race)
The Necrons, tricked by star-devouring creatures called the C'tan, the Necrons became soulless
constructs made of living metal, and after millennia of slumber they have arisen, seeking to reforge
their lost empires.
The Eldar, an ancient dying race whose psykers can predict the future.
The Dark Eldar, who must consume the souls of others to prevent themselves from dying.
The Tyranids, an all-consuming, all-organic, bio-engineered, intergalactic swarm. The Tyranid’s are
believed to also be the inspiration behind the alien films and the zerg from blizzard’s starcraft series.
The Orks, whose brutal personality, tactics and technology make them the comic relief of the series.
The Tau on the left and the right being Ork’s who have taken control of a
TyranidCarnifex.
Speculation:
I believe the Warhammer franchise has been successful because of it’s deep, rich
and interesting story line full of great character designs and storytelling. The table
top game itself being very well thought out and addictive to its players (I myself have
yet to try it). While the strategy games Warhammer 40k + 40k 2 are well made and
keep the high standard of great story telling.