Godzilla is the huge talk of the town right now, and it’s making some video game companies eager to get in.
As shared on reddit by user Jasonvsfreddyvs, Atari has been talking to fans on Twitter about the Godzilla games they published in the 2000s. Twitter users phantom_kaiju and Jdog_4789 asked Atari about bringing the games back on the platform, and they agreed about wanting to bring the games back as well.
To sum it up, Atari explained that they aren’t the entity who gets to decide on this particular project, but it certainly sounds like they are looking for or waiting on the greenlight from Godzilla’s real owner, Toho Studios. Now it must be said, while we have seen various Godzilla projects hit the global market through the years, Toho isn’t really proactive on such projects.
For those not in the know, the Godzilla games fans are clamoring for are the fighting games published by Atari and developed by Pipeworks Interactive in the 2000s. Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee released for the GameCube in 2002 and Xbox in 2003. Godzilla: Save the Earth released in PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004. Finally, Godzilla Unleashed released in 2007 on the Wii, with a doubtful PlayStation 2 release (more on this below).
It’s not that all these games are masterpieces. Fans remember them fondly, obviously, because they were fun to play, warts and all. They also somewhat act as throwbacks to a time when fighting games for casual players could still have a big audience alongside the more competitive games made of legacy franchises.
Pipeworks Interactive, the studio Atari hired to make these games, is very much still around, and are now best known for making Superfight for Windows, and porting Terraria to consoles. However, Atari pointed out to fans that they obviously now own Nightdive Studios, who are one of the best companies around when it comes to remasters, so they could make them if they ever got the greenlight.
For what it’s worth, Atari also acquired Digital Eclipse, so they’re definitely not lacking in studios that would be up to the task, but something else has to be brought up here: what if Atari just made a new Godzilla game from scratch? And this new title would be the perfect opportunity to make a new casual fighting game for the Monsterverse.
If you’re wondering why this would even be of interest at all, the latest Monsterverse release, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire just made $ 80 million in its US theatrical debut, and a staggering $ 194 million global total. That already makes this film one of the biggest moneymakers of the year, topping many Marvel movies, and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Godzilla is absolutely hot right now, and video game developers would love to capitalize on that, if only they were given the chance.
