Why the hell did you license that?

Games based on licensed IPs are the unpleasant body odour of gaming. No-one really likes them, but they’re inexorably tied to the medium and just keep coming back no matter what we do to get rid of them. As crap as most of these games are though, the licenses they’re based on usually make sense. Big movies, popular, action-packed TV shows and successful sports stars are all perfect subjects to stick on a box in order to persuade the unsuspecting buyer to pick it up. It’s a system that works, and many a piece of digital yak poop has topped the charts as a result.

Every so often though, the licensing guys just seem to lose the plot. In amongst the sensible tie-ins, Games Radar have seen more than a few that have loudly set off their WTF alarm over the years. Some are based on unpopular or out of date IPs, some are obscure to the point of the surreal, and others are classic cases of a publisher buying the license to a big name property without ever giving a second’s thought to whether the material would translate to videogame in any sane or logical way. Over at Games Radar you’ll find some of their favourite examples from the land of the unmarketable, so click on and prepare to raise those eyebrows.