brash-entertainment posts

We've reported that new publisher Brash Entertainment has run into some troubles since its launch last year; its move to only do movie adaptations has resulted in two crappy games, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Jumper, neither of which burned up the sales charts.

This week, the publisher announced yet another movie-to-game adaptation. This time it's for The Tale of Despereaux, based on the upcoming CGI film from Universal about a brave and courageous mouse in a fantasy world. The game will feature the title character of Despereaux fighting a number of animal enemies to save his princess. The title is due out this winter alongside the movie's release to stores. We are still waiting for Brash to reveal details on their plans for the Saw game which is perhaps their biggest chance for a huge mainstream sales hit.

If you raised $400 million to start a game publishing company, would you decide to make your first game an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie tie-in title? Well, that's exactly what Brash Entertainment did. The Los Angeles-based company, which first announced its presence just over a year ago, was quite open in its intentions in releasing games based on licensed properties. However its track record isn't all that great so far. It has released two games since its launch; the previously mentioned Alvin game (released for the PC and other platforms) and one based on the sci-fi movie/box office bomb Jumper. Both got slammed by critics and while the Alvin game sold OK, the Jumper adaptation sold a measly 16,000 copies.

Now comes word via Variety that the company's co-founder and president, Nicholas Longano, has left his position at Brash Entertainement (the article isn't clear if he resigned or was fired). Brash co-founder and CEO Mitch Davis (also the co-founder of the MMO in-game property trading company Live Gamer) will assume Longano's duties. Brash Entertainment's slate for 2008 isn't encouraging; it has a kids game based on the CGI movie Space Chimps due this August. Its first major next-gen title willl come out this October via an Unreal Engine 3 based adaptation of the Saw horror film series. Brash has kept the game under tight wraps (they haven't even revealed the game's developer). Only time will tell if the company can come back from its rocky beginnings.