I'm sure many of you have wondered over the years why the name “Ocean Software” appears on so many pieces of software. robocop video game.
Perhaps the most famous adaptation of the 1987 classic film is Data East's Coin Op. It became a worldwide hit, making its way to arcades around the world, and Ocean's name appears alongside Data East on the title screen.
Those familiar with the situation will understand why this is the case. UK-based Ocean Software was savvy enough to acquire the electronic entertainment rights to the film, and did so before filming began. It was then sublicensed to the Japanese company Data East to create an arcade game, which Ocean ported to home computers such as his ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari ST, and Commodore Amiga.
All of this was a tremendous gamble at the time, but the amount Ocean actually paid for the rights is incredible, especially from a modern media licensing perspective.
Speak in deleted scenes from great 2023 documentaries RoboDoc: Birth of RoboCopOceans Software Director Gary Bracey explains that it only cost the company “about $10,000” to secure the worldwide video game rights to Paul Verhoeven's '80s classic.
Bracey told Eurogamer in 2014 that “the decision to license this game was based purely on reading Ed Neumeier's script.” “That just seemed to resonate with me. The combination of action and genre is what made it so compelling.”
But during that particular interview, he suggested the fee was closer to $20,000. It was still a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) considering the game sold over 1 million copies in home format alone and its popularity was one of the best-selling home computer games of the decade. The original arcade version was one of the most commercially successful releases in 1988.
Factor in the fact that RoboCop has since been released on consoles like the NES and Game Boy, and you can only imagine how much revenue that initial payment made for Ocean. But, as Bracey explains, the licensing of major media assets was all part of the company. Comprehensive strategy:
