The iPhone Gives 'Sonic the Hedgehog' a Second Chance

By IAN SHERR

Bloomberg

Playing a videogame on an iPhone

LOS ANGELES—Old is the new cool in videogames.

Videogame titles that once gathered dust on collectors' shelves have found a new life on mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone, giving companies a cheap way to make money while also helping to promote new software.

Videogame titles that once gathered dust on collectors' shelves have found a new life on mobile devices. Ian Sherr reports on digits. Photo: Sega.

It is what Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. did when it was preparing to release the third installment in a popular film-noire series called "Max Payne." About a month before the new title went on sale, the company released "Max Payne Mobile"—the first game in the series released 11 years ago, reworked to run on smartphones and tablet computers rather than videogame consoles and personal computers.

"It used to be people were skeptical there was any library value at all [to these old games]," said Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's chief executive, in an interview at this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, trade show here.

The company also has released the decade-old "Grand Theft Auto III" for mobile devices, and "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars." Reselling older games both on mobile devices and traditional videogame consoles and personal computers has become a big business for Take-Two, representing as much as almost a third of the company's revenue in some quarters.

"If they're beloved and highly regarded and at the right price, they might be appealing," Mr. Zelnick said.

At the E3 Conference

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People attended a news conference on the eve of the start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles on Monday, June 4. The videogame conference runs June 5-7.

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Take-Two's efforts came as customers are flocking to mobile applications or apps. Prime examples include Zynga Inc.'s "Words With Friends" and Rovio Entertainment Ltd.'s "Angry Birds," which are played on a variety of devices as well as on the Internet.

The recycled products fetch a fraction of the price of the original videogames, which often cost about $60. Many mobile versions, such as "Max Payne Mobile," are priced at $2.99.

Yet bringing old games to mobile platforms still brings in revenue at little extra expense for software companies.

"They're dumb if they don't take existing games and remonetize them," said Lewis Ward, an analyst at industry research firm IDC.

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Offering older titles that were big sellers when they were released also helps to strengthen a company's brand, Mr. Ward said, and serves as a form of advertising for coming titles, such as what Take-Two did with the "Max Payne" franchise. "You can remonetize those older-generation games and you advertise the heck out of the new one," he said.

Take-Two isn't alone in adopting the strategy. Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. has started dusting off old games such as "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Streets of Rage" and "Virtua Fighter," bringing them to mobile devices with much fanfare from fans of these series.

Sony Corp. is one of the largest companies to embrace this trend. The company, which makes the PlayStation 3 videogame console, has been releasing older console games through its PlayStation Network, as well as targeting some mobile devices powered by Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

Andrew House, head of Sony's videogame business, said the company was surprised when customers began signing up for its PlayStation Network's premium Internet service, called PlayStation Plus, because it offered free access to the company's decades-old games.

"There is that nostalgia factor," Mr. House said. "We're learning about the length of life this content has and how it can be repurposed for new audiences."

Remarketing old software isn't the only way companies are exploiting earlier titles. Another approach, pioneered by Nintendo Co., is to take characters from old titles and use them in a new one. Sony has taken that approach in a videogame, "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale," that pits popular characters from the action-fighting series "God of War" and the car-fighting game "Twisted Metal" against one another. Reaction from industry insiders has been positive so far, and Sony said its fans are excited.

Write to Ian Sherr at ian.sherr@dowjones.com

A version of this article appeared June 7, 2012, on page B4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: 'Sonic' Gets a Second Chance.