If you loved Activision’s Spider-Man games, then you will love Activision’s latest news.  If you hate them, like me, then this is…well, not so good.

Activision has announced that they have signed a worldwide exclusive contract with Spider-Man Merchandising L.P. to publish twelve years worth of Spider-Man games.  Talk about your long term exclusive contracts, EA only signed on for five years with the NFL.

The big thing about this news there has been no outrage.  The gaming press went nuts when EA signed a five year contract with NFL, screaming that it was unfair and about how EA, without competition, would pump out one crappy football game after another.  That as consumers we will buy like the lemmings we are.  Guess what, the same is true for Spider-Man games.  Every year, even sometimes twice a year, Activision releases a Spider-man game.  And like lemmings we rush out and buy them.

Did we hear a peep for the gaming press when the Spidey news dropped? No! Okay, every game site wrote the obligatorily article about the news, but it seems the major point was missed. There were no loud cries of how Activision is killing the Spider-Man franchise. How Spider-Man will continue to get stale with each passing year. How, with little competition, Activision won’t be forced to make the greatest Spider-man game ever.  Or at least one better then the Atari 2600 Spider-man game.

Yes, I know Ultimate Spider-man was good, but that was a fluke.  The game let you play as Venom, you would have to be a total moron to screw that up.  Excuse me, Acclaim did it back in the 90’s with Maximum Carnage for the Super Nintendo.

Have you played Spider-Man 2 yet? If you have not, put down the keyboard, run out to your local game store and pick up a copy. You will find it in the bargain bin. If you feel particularly masochistic, try the PSP version. Now fire up your console and pick up your controller. Hey look it’s a thief, let’s chase him. Yeah I webbed him, hey there is another thief. Lets go get him. Yeah, I am Spider-Man - look at me as I fly around New York webbing the baddies. This gameplay is getting boring. It is the same thing over and over again. Oh, you got another three hours until you get to the good stuff. Oh, the good stuff is just rescuing little Johnny as he plays in traffic.

The 12 year exclusive contract that Activision signed with Spider-Man Merchandising L.P is bad for the gaming industry. This agreement will pave the road for more exclusive contracts on other popular licenses like WWE, Batman, and Gundam Wing to name a few. This will lead to more and more crappy licensed games. That, like the lemmings we are that do not know better, will run out and buy.

Who do I blame for this?  Not Activision, they know what it means to have a 12-year exclusive contract. Lots and lots of free money with little effort. No, I blame Sony and Marvel, the two companies that make up Spider-Man Merchandising L.D. They should be able see the future of Spider-Man games with a company that has a 12 year contract. Then again I think they are blinded by all the money Activision threw their way. As a game journalist, instead of quietly doing what the PR people tell us to say, we need to join forces and cry from the highest peaks. We are tired of exclusive licenses contracts on popular franchises. We want to see non-exclusive contracts on popular franchises, so we can get good games based around the characters and stories we love. And we are not going take it anymore. EA, Activision, Sony, and Marvel - you have been warned.  Now, my fellow game journalist ninjas: attack!