Fast, furious, and free-to-play.
Mobile publisher and developer Kabam has released Fast & Furious: Legacy, available now on iOS and Android. This continues a trend of movie franchises taking advantage of the lucrative mobile market. Legacy is an action-racing game that re-creates moments from all seven Fast & Furious movies, including Furious 7, which comes out on April 3.
“We approached it as fans of the Fast & Furious franchise,” Cuz Parry, creative director for Fast & Furious: Legacy, told GamesBeat. “What iconic cars would we like to drive? What cities would we like to go and visit from the movies? What Fast & Furious villains would we like to take on and interact with? With that as our filter, and Universal as an amazing partner, we were able to come up with something we think should satisfy fans of the franchise — those that have been there from day one and those that are jumping onto the thrill ride that is a Fast & Furious movie for the first time.”
It used to be that big franchises would release games on console to coincide with movie releases, but these days properties like The Hobbit and The Avengers go to mobile.
“I think from a purely business and audience perspective, heading into mobile makes sense,” Parry told GamesBeat. “You can reach more people cost effectively and connect them with their favorite franchises. Console gaming experienced a saturation of licensed titles, and many gamers attached a stigma to licensed franchises. The audience for free-to-play games is much larger than the console audience — everyone has a phone or tablet. And this audience is far less likely to attach a stigma to a licensed game. They want to enjoy their favorite franchises conveniently and for free. Mobile gaming provides exactly that opportunity.”
The mobile market is huge and growing. It could reach $30 billion, with revenues expected to exceed the console industry’s, this year, according to market researcher Newzoo. Kabam previously released Fast & Furious 6: The Game for mobile, so this isn’t its first spin with the franchise.