Square Enix will use its Collective crowdfunding service to solicit revival pitches for the Gex, Fear Effect and Anachronox franchises.
It’s been several years now since Square Enix purchased Eidos and gained access to its library of intellectual properties. Since then, the company has made arguably good use of several of the faded publisher’s best known franchises. That being the case, there are still several notable games series under the Eidos umbrella that SE has, thus far, not moved with much enthusiasm to revive. At least, that is, up until now.
Using its Collective crowdfunding website, Square Enix has announced that it will be giving independent developers a new opportunity to pitch game ideas that could, in turn, be used to give new life a trio of classic Eidos titles. The IPs included will be Anachronox, Gex and Fear Effect. SE would further state that there are “more IPs that [it] may open up in the future,” but that it intends to first see what the response is to this opening round.
As for the process of pitching, the publisher stated that it will be “pretty much the same as for an original IP,” excluding “a few exceptions.” The announcement stated that the publisher would need to internally “pre-approve” everything before Collective users would be given a chance to vote on a pitch. The company assured prospective developers that it would give a reason for any rejections, but affirmed that it wants to “make sure” that it focuses on “relevant” ideas for the IPs in question.
Beyond that, the approval process would not be far removed from Collective’s usual proceedings. Any ideas approved by Square Enix will be put through a 28-day feedback phase. After seeing the results of that, the publisher will decide whether or not to take the project in question to its crowdfunding phase. If the game is able to raise enough money to meet its needs, Square Enix will take 5 percent of the netted amount, leaving the rest for the developers to make the game. After the game’s completion, the company will then distribute the game, taking 10 percent of the net revenues along with an additional 10 percent for licensing fees. The developers would keep 80 percent of the profits.
Source: Square Enix Collective
