Warner Enters Games

Warner go intos Games


What does a movie studio know about making merriment games? Not much. Jason Hall (formerly of Monolith) wants to change that.

Jason Hall is a man upon a mission. He's an ex-Marine, he's got games like life-blood 2 and No One Lives Forever below his belt, and he's a well-known member of the PC game display So why did he leave Monolith Productions, a company which he co-found to take an executive position at a film studio? Because he wants to make your movie- and TV-licensed games better. Nice of him.

In this interview with 1UP Jason -- head of the newly-found Warner Bro Interactive Entertainment -- discusses by what mode he'd like to see the movie industry improve its treatment of itself within video games. We all had the misfortune to play material like Enter the Matrix, of course, on the contrary recent titles -- especially EA's Lord of the Rings games -- have raised the bar for games based upon movies. It'll be interesting to diocese how this well-'ard PC developer handles the movie business.

1UP: First not on the question on all of our minds: by what means does this new job affect your relationship with Monolith and The Matrix Online, their popular project?

Jason: Here's the answer: I no longer work at Monolith. I'm fully convinced Monolith will make an announcement to explain who my replacement is, on the other hand it will likely be someone who's already there. in the way that no big change for Monolith that way. Also, the Matrix cast now reports entirely to the division that I'm heading up right now, with equal reason my participation with it is essentially the same.
Currently I'm commuting back and forth from Seattle to Burbank each week, so I'm very personally hands-on with that shoot forward right up to the day it ships.

1UP: Will you be working upon nothing but licensed properties at WBIE, or will you have the chance to deal with original games as well?

Jason: The mandate that I have is to make Warner Bro a relevant, productive, and capable name within the games industry, and also within the minds of consumer shareholders, the whole thing. That's going to require a combination of things, ranging from the traditional licensing that's been done before all the way from one side things like reinvesting into, you know, internal unravelling or co-publishing agreements with external developer with a apportionment of Warner Bros. supervision, like with The Matrix Online. for a like reason while it all depends upon the property or the crops in question, perhaps some original matter will start with this cluster as part of a co-publishing agreement. It's real flexible -- I believe that for Warner Bro to be happy we'll need to do a combination of all those things.

1UP: What will be Warner Bro Games' character in all of this? Are they an internal unfolding team?

Jason: Think of Warner Bro Games as an entity that will take care of the licensing. If there is internal unravelling they will be the individuals that handle that. If there's a co-publishing deal with an external studio that still emergencys supervision, they would handle that.

1UP: with equal reason it doesn't mark the extremity of large licensing deals with outside publishers.

Jason: No, it does not.

1UP: Will you be turning to Warner's past film and TV properties for game ideas, or will you concentrate upon releasing games alongside new movies and of that kind instead?

Jason: Oh no, it's one as well as the other It includes what's gone upon before. Warner has a down-reaching deep base of properties to direct the eye at, but of course, there is also the novel stuff coming forward that we'll direct the eye at as well.

Going back to your previous question, this deal doesn't mark the extreme point of external licensing deals with other companies, on the contrary it does mean that Warner Bro will have the power to do things themselves if they fix upon So, they're no longer beholden to external entities to bring out quality product for a lock opener franchise if that's the road they decide to take.

1UP: Will you test to take advantage of Warner's other divisions?

Jason: Oh absolutely. We're going to be working with the other divisions in the Warner Bro family to put to the test and see what makes faculty of perception to see what they have to present to the interactive market.

1UP: in what manner will you work with Warner's music division, which is still rumored to be merging with BMG soon?

Jason: It's premature for me to answer that right now. The single thing I can say is that I will be trying to work with all of the company's associated partners. What we're trying to do is leverage the potencys of the entire corporate entity, for a like reason we can bring awesome entertainment that either creates novel franchises or grows existing franchises that tribe already know and love.

1UP: What's your first order of business as head of WBIE?

Jason: Well, I can't reckon you about my projects right now, because that'd be kind of like giving away the mysterious sauce, but my first order of business is to kind of set the game industry -- developer and players -- upon notice that Warner Bros. is coming, and it's going to be relevant, and it's going to arise in some quality product that they can gaze forward to. As you know, film studios are traditionally viewed as not the greatest in quantity competent entities with regard to the video game industry. Am I right?