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For many firms, purchasing a franchise would be an easy excuse to remake theseries as they see fit.
However, in the case of the former THQ IP MX vs ATV, purchased by Nordic Games last April, the publisher stuck by the adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
When it comes to existing brand assets, we don’t always see the need to put our own touches to a game,” explains Reinhard Pollice, business and product development director at Nordic Games.
In the case of MX vs ATV it was clear that it didn’t require a completely reworked concept. We analysed previous entries in the series and collected feedback from fans, then looked at those games to find the secret source to what made them fun.”
FIXER UPPER
However, while the chassis of the title remains the same, Nordic is making the changes required to bring MX vs ATV back to full running capacity.
The latest entry to the series received a lot of negative feedback,” Pollice admits. To some extent MX vs ATV Alive suffered from the collapse of THQ, and wasn’t a finished game at all. We decided to go back to when the series was at its peak and retain the fun from MX vs ATV Reflex, while also bringing back a motivating core game mode. This is the career mode that we have in Supercross.”
He adds that the game is just a sign of things to come from the franchise.
We made a conscious decision to not make players wait over two years for a full sequel, but rather start small, grow into the franchise, build a good team around it and then do something bigger,” he states, but insists that despite the rapid turnaround, It’s the game fans have been waiting for”.
