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Licencing costs
Author
does anyone here ave a clue to how much a license for a car or motorcycle will cost you? I''m not asking for exact prices, of course, but an idea of what ballpark we''re in would be helpful.
TIA.
--Gunnar
Er... is this a troll? What state are you in? What COUNTRY are you in? It''s called a phone book... call the Dept. of Motor Licensing.
Or are you asking how much it costs to buy a 3D model of a nice car from a 3rd party supplier?
Or are you asking how much it costs to buy a 3D model of a nice car from a 3rd party supplier?
Hi.
He is talking about licensing the use of names and likeness''.
As a general rule we have found most companies want to see anything from 5% to 15% depending on the license. For a single make car game, I would expect a fee of 10% of gross warehouse (publisher shipout price) with an advance of anything from $0 to several $100,000''s. This will be substantially more if you want an exclusive license as well.
He is talking about licensing the use of names and likeness''.
As a general rule we have found most companies want to see anything from 5% to 15% depending on the license. For a single make car game, I would expect a fee of 10% of gross warehouse (publisher shipout price) with an advance of anything from $0 to several $100,000''s. This will be substantially more if you want an exclusive license as well.
Author
quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
Hi.
He is talking about licensing the use of names and likeness''.
correct.
quote:
As a general rule we have found most companies want to see anything from 5% to 15% depending on the license. For a single make car game, I would expect a fee of 10% of gross warehouse (publisher shipout price) with an advance of anything from $0 to several $100,000''s.
yikes! the greedy bastards! oh well, I guess we''ll have Donhas and Kawabungas, then.
seriously, though; how is this done for games that feature a whole bunch of cars/bikes? say you were doing a motorcycle racer, and wanted 600cc-bikes from Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati... surely you wouldn''t have to give up 40% of the shipping price?
--Gunnar
The licensing is usually handled by the publisher rather than the developer - and yes it does happen on a per-brand basis, so if you have 10 manufacturers you gotta get 10 licenses...
...negotiating a good deal is what you hire a good specialist lawyer for (although they''ll charge an extra £5000 or so for the privilege)... ...There are also some agencies which specialise in negotiating licenses for games (for a fee)...
The biggest problem with licenses isn''t the cost, its the conditions... I remember one racing game from the 16bit games where the cars bounced off walls and never got any damage - the reason ? The brand owner said that it would make their cars look bad/unsafe if they were seen to get damaged when they crashed!
We did some development work on Rally Championship (EA/Actualize), and I do remember there were a few licensing issues. The on screen maps had to be licensed because they had been taken from real maps. Not just the cars; some of the tree/grass textures were from photographs, National Trust wanted their cut for that etc etc...
You should try working with a toy manufacturers product (I was one of the main programmers on Lego Technic Cybermaster) - makes some of the car quality control rules seem trivial
--
Simon O''''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com
...negotiating a good deal is what you hire a good specialist lawyer for (although they''ll charge an extra £5000 or so for the privilege)... ...There are also some agencies which specialise in negotiating licenses for games (for a fee)...
The biggest problem with licenses isn''t the cost, its the conditions... I remember one racing game from the 16bit games where the cars bounced off walls and never got any damage - the reason ? The brand owner said that it would make their cars look bad/unsafe if they were seen to get damaged when they crashed!
We did some development work on Rally Championship (EA/Actualize), and I do remember there were a few licensing issues. The on screen maps had to be licensed because they had been taken from real maps. Not just the cars; some of the tree/grass textures were from photographs, National Trust wanted their cut for that etc etc...
You should try working with a toy manufacturers product (I was one of the main programmers on Lego Technic Cybermaster) - makes some of the car quality control rules seem trivial
--
Simon O''''Connor
Creative Asylum Ltd
www.creative-asylum.com
Simon is right.
Many car makers refuse to allow their cars or vehicles to get damaged in crashes. Also they tend to want to be sure that their vehicles are fairly represented as well, in comparison to the others within the game.
As for multiple licenses in a single game, there are a few ways its approached. Sometimes an overall % is allocated for the licenses and then split between each vehicle, so the overall cost of the licenses is not prohibitive and sometimes all the licenses have to be agreed on individual terms.
It is also common for most manufacturers to have agents that deal with their IP property. Finding those companies should be just a simple call to the manufacturer. But getting in to see them is a lot harder.
Many car makers refuse to allow their cars or vehicles to get damaged in crashes. Also they tend to want to be sure that their vehicles are fairly represented as well, in comparison to the others within the game.
As for multiple licenses in a single game, there are a few ways its approached. Sometimes an overall % is allocated for the licenses and then split between each vehicle, so the overall cost of the licenses is not prohibitive and sometimes all the licenses have to be agreed on individual terms.
It is also common for most manufacturers to have agents that deal with their IP property. Finding those companies should be just a simple call to the manufacturer. But getting in to see them is a lot harder.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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