Focus on Video Game Licensing

Video game licensing deals in 2022: A year-in-review

With brands doubling down on their efforts to gain a presence in the gaming and metaverse space, 2022 has been a huge year for licensing deals and collaborations in video games, especially with the global gaming market estimated to reach $184 billion by the end of 2022, according to NewZoo. The continued growth of brand integrations and licensing deals within the game market extends way beyond the Roblox and Fortnite activations that typically dominate media headlines. While Ralph Lauren redesigning its iconic Polo Pony for the Fortnite collaboration and Elton John building a branded experience in Roblox are impressive, there are plenty of other exciting licensing plays taking place across PC, mobile and console games.

Musicians are singing their songs at in-game concerts

One of the biggest trends of 2022 has been licensors focussing their attention on mobile games, especially in the music business. Justin Bieber debuted a new song, performed an ingame concert, and was transformed into a playable character in Garena

Rachit came up with the concept for Layer after he successfully licensed a song from his nowdefunct band into a NASCAR racing game and was struck by the legal complexities and opaque nature of the licensing process. In 2021 Rachit founded Layer, an online intellectual property (IP) marketplace that enables game developers to connect and negotiate with the rights holders of a growing list of well-known brands. Prior to founding Layer, Rachit worked at Sony, Zippity and GO1 both in Australia and the UK. Free Fire, a battle royale game with 150 million active players. Similarly, the South Korean girl group, Blackpink, played a virtual concert in PUBG: Mobile, which was watched by 15.7 million viewers, according to Krafton, a gaming subsidiary of Tencent Holdings. And let’s not forget the collaboration between Korean boy band BTS and Cookie Run Kingdom, which lasted for over 100 days and integrated seven playable songs into the game along with new characters and cosmetic items (that you had to purchase, of course).

Most recently, Sky: Children of the Light, themed its latest season around the Norwegian pop artist, Aurora. The highlight was a 45-minute interactive concert experience with support for up to 4000 simultaneous players – the largest concert experience of its time – with Aurora-themed items costing between $5 and $25.

Designer fashion brands are bringing virtual style to games

Many of these aforementioned concerts are monetized through the sale of virtual items designed around the musicians, and there’s been a huge rise in the demand for virtual clothing in 2022 in general. Burberry, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, and Carolina Herrera have all built branded experiences on the Roblox platform in 2022, but we’re starting to see more big names in the sector shift their focus to licensing deals in the wider video game market.

More than 100 items of clothing, footwear, and accessories from the David Koma Resort 2023 collection were made available in the mobile fashion game, Pocket Style, while the Lagardère Group, owner of the ELLE lifestyle brand, started offering games and ELLE-branded quests within the multiplayer blockchain game My Neighbor Alice. But of the biggest fashion highlights of 2022 has to be the deal between EA’s The Sims and e-commerce company, Depop. The new partnership introduced seller-designed clothing into the game, which can be purchased using in-game currency, while a new feature called Trendi introduced support for selling old items of ingame clothing, mirroring the way that Depop works.

More automotive brands are racing into video games

Given their long-standing experience in the sector from franchises such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, and Gran Turismo, it should be no surprise that automotive brands have also been at the forefront of licensing deals in video games. PUBG Mobile demonstrated how this could be done with the straightforward approach of featuring the latest sports cars from Maserati, Dodge, and Koenigsegg as purchasable vehicle skins. And in an attempt to create some sparks amongst Gen Z consumers, BMW used the power of the Pokémon brand to inspire the creation of its electric Mini Aceman concept, themed around Pokémon’s electric mascot, Pikachu.

Need for Speed: Unbound raced onto shelves at the end of the year and proved it’s a powerhouse when it comes to being a home for IP and branded experiences. Players can dress their characters in clothing from Palace Skateboards, Versace, Puma, Vans, and Alpha Industries as they sit behind the wheel of over 40 vehicles, including Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, and Jaguar models (to name just a few).

Best of all – and one of our favourite gaming integrations of 2022 – has to be the inclusion of the American

Layer’s CEO and Founder, Rachit Moti

Rachit with Chris Illuk

rapper A$AP Rocky. Players could listen to his new track Shittin’ Me, and customize the sounds their vehicle makes with a custom A$AP Rocky voice pack. A$AP Rocky’s music video for Shittin’ Me was also worked on in collaboration with Need for Speed.

Video games and entertainment IP are working hand-in-hand

One aspect of licensing deals that won’t come to the forefront until next year is the increased prevalence of films and television series based on popular video games. While we did see new TV series based on video game IP, including Halo and Resident Evil, we’re yet to measure the success of projects such as HBO’s Last Of Us series or the new Super Mario Bros. movie. And let’s not forget that TV series and films based on Fallout, Gran Turismo, Streets of Rage, Alan Wake and It Takes Two are all on the horizon. Of course, licensing deals work both ways in the entertainment world and we’ve seen our fair share of new games and remade titles based on popular IP this year, many of which have been handled by smaller studios. The release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was met with a positive response by gamers, as was the announcement of Disney Illusion Island, a new side-scrolling coop game starring Mickey the Mouse and co. All of this is without mentioning the continued success of gaming series based on popular entertainment IP, including Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Dragon Ball, and Star Wars.

What can we expect from 2023?

With the global gaming market showing no signs of slowing down, there is no doubt that 2023 will be an even bigger year for licensing plays in video games, especially with Cloudbased gaming services such as Xbox’s Game Pass now available on the latest Smart TVs, making access to the latest titles even easier as gamers don’t need to spend hundreds on the latest hardware. Newzoo’s report into IP-based mobile games released earlier this year showed that IP holders are increasingly focusing their attention on the mobile market. That makes sense, considering mobile games account for 53% of global gaming revenue. What remains to be seen, however, is how licensors will split their efforts across video games and the new metaverse platforms that inevitably emerge in 2023. Will licensors take their chances on new platforms to be the first to do something in an exciting space or focus their attention on video games that already have established and highly engaged daily player counts in the millions?

Either way, you can keep up to speed with the latest collaborations by signing up to our newsletter over at layerlicensing.com/.