Get all the morbid details on exactly what the Wachowski Bros. (and Warner Bros.) are getting paid.It's scary, the kinds of information that you can get on the Internet. "The Smoking Gun" website specializes in publishing information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and it has published documents relating to the impending divorce of Larry Wachowski. The documents have some interesting details on how much money the Wachowski brothers stand to gain from the videogames related to their Matrix franchises. It doesn't (and shouldn't) matter much to gamers, but it's interesting in a "morbid curiousity" sense of the word.
Specifically, Interplay (the previous licensee) paid the Wachowskis a lump sum of a cool million dollars when the deal was signed. When Infogrames (Atari) took over the deal, they paid out another million. At the end of last year, they paid yet ANOTHER million. Finally, another million and a half is due by the end of 2004.
4.5 Million of that 5.5 Million dollars are royalty advances, as both the Warner Bros. and the Wachowski's both stand to make a great deal of money on the net sales of the game (Warner getting 14% over net sales of 2.5 million units, and the Wachowskis getting 10% over 3 million units).
What isn't known is what happens to those royalty advancements should the game fail badly, but this certainly explains why Atari shipped 4 million units of the game at launch. They needed to recoup those payments, and it's easier to sell a game like this right at launch, before the buzz dies down.
Make sure to visit The Smoking Gun to see the actual documents. And be afraid, that kind of detailed information could be available about ANY of you.
Topic: Atari paid how much for "Enter The Matrix?" (Read 2029 times)
