THQ poaches Panda, Penguins, Puss
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Publisher gets exclusive rights to games based on DreamWorks' new Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots, and Penguins of Madagascar projects.
For the past seven years, THQ has been the only company to publish games based on Pixar movies. However, that run will be ending as Pixar-parent Disney has taken Toy Story 3 game development in-house.
THQ addressed the resulting gap in its lineup today by announcing a multiyear deal with DreamWorks Animation SKG to make games based off three of its projects. The agreement gives THQ exclusive worldwide rights to the upcoming films Kung Fu Panda: Kaboom of Doom and the Shrek series spin-off Puss In Boots, as well as the Penguins of Madagascar TV series.
The deal does not include perhaps the biggest DreamWorks Animation property, Shrek, as Activision is currently at work on the game for the next theatrical installment in that series, Shrek Forever After. Activision has also been DreamWorks Animation's partner for games based on the Madagascar movies, which spun off the Penguins TV series for longtime THQ partner Nickelodeon.
THQ's DreamWorks Animation movie-based games will arrive alongside their theatrical counterparts, with Kung Fu Panda hitting theaters June 3, 2011, and Puss In Boots following November 4, 2011. The Penguins of Madagascar began airing earlier this year, and THQ expects to have the first games based on it available in its next fiscal year (which begins April 1).
This is not the first time working together for DreamWorks Animation and THQ. The pair struck a single-project agreement for games based on MegaMind (previously called Master Mind) in 2008. Set to debut in theaters in November of 2010, the film follows the story of a supervillain who seeks out meaning in his life after inadvertently killing his superhero nemesis in the opening scene of the film.
The THQ/DreamWorks Animation deal does not cover any game adaptations of the live-action projects from DreamWorks SKG. The Steven Spielberg-headed studio spun off its animation arm, led by former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, in 2004. Ironically, DreamWorks signed a major distribution deal in February with the Walt Disney Company, owner of DreamWorks Animation's archrival--Pixar.
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
My name.... iz PUUESSS!!
Damn, the title gave me hopes they were developing a new "game hunter" title, you know, hunting pandas, penguins, and puss[]...
I'll rent the new Kung Fu Panda
Good deal financially, but the games ain't gonna be great. And MegaMind sounds interesting.
3 contenders for Game of the Year.
@spudster007 Lord of the Rings 2 and 3. @SadPSPAddict I just don't buy them, even if they're pretty good. Why? Because why buy a middle-level platformer from Disney when I can get a top level one from Nintendo?
Lol man, last Disney game I ever played was the original Toy Story game for the Sega Genesis back when it was new.
(Makes fart noise) What a waste of my time
Disney + Games = Yawn for gamers and 5 year-olds breaking into hissy fits until parents give in and buy the garbage to shut up the brat.
i poach puss too!
and this is breaking gaming news why???? lol :P
these games dont look very promising @ all. I say take that money and invest in the movies based around these characters. It would be a smart investment.
I think one would be more journalistic-ly honest if the title was:
I'm pretty sure games based on movies should be on everyone's "Do Not Buy" list. Except for the first chronicles of riddick game...that's all I can think of right now
does anyone really care? all those games are goign to suck
Who cares....
I like most movies that have the word puss in them
Anyone else think its funny that Dreamworks is making distribution deals with Disney? There's a real corporate irony for you.
Developers start making these games based off of the movie tie-in at about the same time as the movie industry starts pre-production. Why then, with sometimes a year and a half of development, do these games suck more than finding out an entire movie was a dream sequence?
Not to be a nattering nabob of negativity but I am averse to assiduous alliteration in headlines :(
I don't understand why sub-standard movie tie ins are so popular. Wait the target is parents of kids who don't know any better!! I make my kids rent movie tie in games before I'll buy them. Having said that we did get Kung Foo Panda on DS as my 3 year old loves it :D
puss in boots the movie?!?!?! :D
kung fu panda game was cool tho
ya ya....more movie tie in bad ass game pls.....ahhhhh....
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