Activision's tough reputation among gamers following the publisher's legal battles with Infinity Ward is probably unfair, according to Beenox studio hear, Dee Brown.
Mr Brown, who has worked with Activision many times while his studio developed Spider-man games, said that after working with the publisher for six years, it was its independent studio model that allowed him to believe in the company's direction.
"Activision has always treated us as partners, rather than something to be controlled," he explained They've been, from a creative standpoint, really, really great."
He discussed the level of freedom Activision gives the developer, particularly in reference to the upcoming The Amazing Spider-man, as well as Shattered Dimensions, which launched in 2010.
"They said 'Hey, we have a movie coming; we would like to make a game out of it so go ahead and make it.' That is pretty much the creative involvement that Activision had. As a game developer, it is just really great to have that level of freedom, and it is really great to feel empowered and make the game we really want to make."
When pressed about the restrictions of developing a licensed game to tie-in with a movie release, Mr Brown wasn't concerned.
"When you are working with licensed IPs, the interesting thing is that you are starting with something that has been developed, especially with Marvel, something that has been developed a lot. There is a lot of material that you can dig into and put into your game; that is very cool. The hard part is how can you innovate in that world and how do you push it further?" he said.
He explained that, with something like Spider-man, it was good to have something already established to work with, which made their work easier.
"They [Activision] gave us the go-ahead and said 'make your game.' They really respected the fact that we are the game makers and they are the film makers."
The Amazing Spider-man is set to launch on June 28, 2012, to coincide with the release of the film.
Source: Game Industry
By Gaetano Prestia