A new scheme being championed by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment boss Jason Hall would see publishers whose games are reviewed poorly being penalised by higher royalty payments to the license holder. Under the terms of Warner Bros" new contracts, the company will charge publishers a fluctuating royalty rate based on review scores for games - with titles which score under 70 per cent on aggregate being subject to higher royalty payments.
The scheme, according to Hall, is designed to protect the company"s valuable intellectual property from being damaged by publishers making bad licensed games. He plans to use sites such as GameRankings and MetaCritic, which aggregate review scores from a wide range of media sources, as the basis for the system. "The game industry has had its time to exploit movie studios all day long and to get away with producing inferior products," Hall is quoted as saying in the Hollywood Reporter. "But, with Warner Brothers, no more. Those days are over. And we mean it. This isn"t just lip service. Honestly, the bad games are over."