Star Wars video game in extensive licensing programme
The launch of the latest Star Wars franchise video game is being dubbed as the biggest licensing programme yet by its publisher LucasArts. Star Wars: Force Unleashed is due out on September 19.
The company says it is being treated like a film release, with a range of licensing deals including tie-ups for models, action figures and books.
Toy brand Hasbro has already launched a range of action figures relating to characters in the game. Lego has agreed a deal to release models of vehicles and spaceships featured in the title, while other characters in the game are featured in role playing games and comics.
Star Wars: Force Unleashed is set in the period between the Star Wars episodes III and IV, and will be available across most platforms, including Wii, XBoX 360 and PS3.
LucasArts product leader Haden Blackman says: “This is basically the biggest licensing programme we’ve seen for a Star Wars game in recent memory, and we’re doing a chunk of products that you’d normally see for a film release.”
He adds that the nature of the franchise means that characters can interact across media. “In the future, I think that Star Wars products will be even more closely aligned – events in the comics tying more directly to the video games, as an example,” he says.
