Eidos Sees Big Future for Kane & Lynch; Sequel Already In Production

Eidos believes Kane & Lynch has the potential to be one of its biggest game franchises ever, and is investing heavily in it as a result.

The advertising budget for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is already greater than that of any Tomb Raider release, and Lionsgate Studios has picked up the movie rights. Speaking to MCV, Jane Cavanagh, Chief Executive Officer at Eidos parent company SCi, said, "We believe it has the potential to be a franchise for adults that is respected and loved in the same way as Hitman. The marketing spend reflects our confidence both in the title and the franchise, which has already been optioned for a Kane & Lynch movie by Lionsgate."

Somewhat surprisingly, Cavanagh also revealed that a sequel to the game, which is still almost two months away from release, is already in the works. "We've already got Kane & Lynch 2 in production," she said, "which just goes to show the belief we have in it as a long-term franchise."

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is being developed by IO Interactive, the studio responsible for the Hitman series of games. "Kane & Lynch is due to be released at the same time as the Hitman movie," added Phil Rogers, CFO at SCi, "and we will be taking full advantage of the cross-marketing potential that the title has."

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, the blood-soaked tale of a murderous mercenary and his medicated psychotic companion, hits the shelves on November 23.

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While the game, I hesitate to refer to it as a franchise yet, seems to have promise, investing so heavily in an untested property could be dangerous. Remember that game Driver 3? The one that was hyped to high heaven and then tanked on all reviews? This game may only be mediocre and certainly the fact that they want to make a movie based on the IP, doesn't actually mean that the game has arrived. How many good movies have been made from Video Game IPs? This is a good example of booking the cruise before the boat has been built.

I'm very excited about this one. It looked great at E3 and it sports some fun, unusual gameplay innovations. Not so much a fan of the "hookers n blow" marketing campaign, but I think this one will be a lot of fun with a lot wider appeal than Hitman.

Mumble mumble something about putting all your eggs in one basket. I like that they've got confidence in an untested property. This is a good thing - more risks, in general, need to be taken in games. But committing to a sequel is quite possibly too big of a risk, and it could prove damaging to their other properties.

Eidos, as ever, has everything to gain, because they have so little left to lose.

I wonder about Io Interactive, though. They released Freedom Fighters for EA, and now I guess they're back to making games about homicidal sociopaths. Only this time, there's two of them.

Not doubting it's a good theme for a movie, but they already released Shoot 'Em Up, and that's going to be hard to beat.

I'd be lying if I said a little part of me isn't hoping this game tanks horribly and utterly. I'm not generally one to wish ill on people, but there seems to be a certain recklessness to the way they're throwing money at this thing that could go beyond the Kane & Lynch franchise and affect other developers under the Eidos tent as well. "Eggs in one basket," indeed.