TT Games: No pressure from Warner to rush out new Lego games

TT Games producer Nick Ricks has told GamesIndustry.biz that since Warner Bros acquired the company last year in a deal worth a reported USD 200 million, there's been no pressure to cash-in on the success of the Lego games with pressure to churn out editions with its own IP - although such a move is a safe assumption for the future.

"We'd be foolish not to consider some of the products in the back catalogue, but equally we're still a small company, we're focused, and that does give us one advantage of making very good games, because we have such a close relationship with Traveller's Tales we can work together very quickly. There's a good short hand between us," he explained in an interview at Game Connection Lyon.

"If we did want to exploit lots of licenses very quickly, we think we could use that - so yes there are lots of opportunities, and we're licking our lips at what we could do, but at the same time we need to be very guarded that making quality games for young gamers is our goal. We don't need to rush out and produce dozens of Lego games based on Warner Bros properties.

"We're in it for the long haul, so there's no push from Warner Bros to do that either - it's very much business as usual, but with the comfort of knowing that we're partnering with someone who has a real drive to become an industry leader, and have the opportunity to know there's all these things we can exploit when the time is right."

In terms of which IP could be next in line for the Lego effect, Ricks gave nothing away, but he did underline the importance of taking great care in making that choice.

"I think you have to be very, very careful about which IPs you choose to marry, particularly because while making games for young gamers, we have to make sure that the games are uncomplicated," he said. "As such it's very hard to make uncomplicated things fun and successful. It's always easy to make things more complicated, add more challenges and so on.

"So there aren't so many things that you can change and tweak, and we have to maintain that quality bar. We're very conscious of that - it's not a case of turning cycles of games around, it's the right games with the right people, at the right time.

"There is a big back catalogue that would lend itself to combining itself with Lego, but we have to make sure that things are appropriate."

The full interview with Nick Ricks, in which he also talks about the working with big licenses and the importance of connectivity to games, is available now.