A lot of people are making a big deal about missing cameos in Astro Bot.
Here's why we shouldn't:
At the end of the day it comes down to licensing. Sony probably asked everyone if they could license these character at no charge and while many agreed, this is not a normal business practice. IP is one of the most valuable things companies have and many companies probably have strict policies on licensing of characters and the cost associated with it.
Crash and Spyro might have been agreed to before Microsoft purchased Activision otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
The two most obvious ones are Marvel (Disney) and DC (Warner Bros) and we see Spider-Man and Batman aren't in Astro Bot. We also don't see Kingdom Hearts (Disney, but we'll get to that later) or Harry Potter in this. Simply put you have to pay to use these characters.
I'm sure Sony charged WB for Kratos to be in Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur.
Some pretty big names missing
Agent 47 - IO Interactive
Rayman - Ubi Soft
John Tanner (Driver) - Ubi Soft
Frogger - Konami (somewhat surprising since they okay'd
Max Payne - T2
GTA characters - T2
Red Dead characters - T2
Croc - Argonaught? (might have been difficult to get in touch)
Sub-Zero/Scorpion - Warner Bros
Any WWE/WCW wrestlers - WWE (Sports in general is just really difficult, because it all comes down to licensing, they have a cameo for Tony Hawk, but it isn't Tony Hawk)
Tenchu (FromSoftware, somehow)
Sonic - Sega
Goku - Shueisha/Bandai Namco
Need for Speed - EA
Star Wars - Disney
James Bond - Amazon
Geralt - CDPR
What was more surprising was the lack of inclusion of Gabe Logan (Syphon Filter) and Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), though we know they might feature in DLC along with Fat Princess. Nothing from SOCOM, The Getaway or Resistance either. A lot of these also simply just fit the tone of Astro Bot and might not make for easily recognizable or cutesy characters. That said they did manage to get a cordicep bot.
Square Enix is probably the most disappointing, but they make sense if that is their policy. They have to pay for licensing with Kingdom Hearts and they probably normally charge for Cloud to be in games.
I doubt they even asked for Star Wars, DBZ, James Bond, and Harry Potter, but I bet the others said no or licensing for the characters is complex like with the Witcher.
PS I don't recall seeing a bot for dynasty warriors either which is surprising.
Here's why we shouldn't:
At the end of the day it comes down to licensing. Sony probably asked everyone if they could license these character at no charge and while many agreed, this is not a normal business practice. IP is one of the most valuable things companies have and many companies probably have strict policies on licensing of characters and the cost associated with it.
Crash and Spyro might have been agreed to before Microsoft purchased Activision otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
The two most obvious ones are Marvel (Disney) and DC (Warner Bros) and we see Spider-Man and Batman aren't in Astro Bot. We also don't see Kingdom Hearts (Disney, but we'll get to that later) or Harry Potter in this. Simply put you have to pay to use these characters.
I'm sure Sony charged WB for Kratos to be in Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur.
Some pretty big names missing
Agent 47 - IO Interactive
Rayman - Ubi Soft
John Tanner (Driver) - Ubi Soft
Frogger - Konami (somewhat surprising since they okay'd
Max Payne - T2
GTA characters - T2
Red Dead characters - T2
Croc - Argonaught? (might have been difficult to get in touch)
Sub-Zero/Scorpion - Warner Bros
Any WWE/WCW wrestlers - WWE (Sports in general is just really difficult, because it all comes down to licensing, they have a cameo for Tony Hawk, but it isn't Tony Hawk)
Tenchu (FromSoftware, somehow)
Sonic - Sega
Goku - Shueisha/Bandai Namco
Need for Speed - EA
Star Wars - Disney
James Bond - Amazon
Geralt - CDPR
What was more surprising was the lack of inclusion of Gabe Logan (Syphon Filter) and Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), though we know they might feature in DLC along with Fat Princess. Nothing from SOCOM, The Getaway or Resistance either. A lot of these also simply just fit the tone of Astro Bot and might not make for easily recognizable or cutesy characters. That said they did manage to get a cordicep bot.
Square Enix is probably the most disappointing, but they make sense if that is their policy. They have to pay for licensing with Kingdom Hearts and they probably normally charge for Cloud to be in games.
I doubt they even asked for Star Wars, DBZ, James Bond, and Harry Potter, but I bet the others said no or licensing for the characters is complex like with the Witcher.
PS I don't recall seeing a bot for dynasty warriors either which is surprising.
