Nintendo Coming to Universal Parks

[zg44]

Somewhere between playing devil's advocate and outright speculation: Depending on when they were negotiating with Nintendo, they might not even have known that they were getting the South property to even mention to Nintendo. Or if they knew, they legally may not have been able to tell Nintendo about it. If it were to come out that they were telling Nintendo that they were getting that property while the legal battle over the land was going on, it could have got nasty. Or if they contracted with Nintendo, and the land fell through, there could be legal issues there. I'm sure Uni had their I's crossed and T's dotted, but it would be interesting to know exactly what was discussed concerning multiple parks.

Given that there's typically confidentiality requirements in these types of contractual discussions, it's likely that Universal at least brought up that they were likely to be looking at a 3rd dry park in a 5-15 year time frame. I doubt they'd be able to be much more specific than that though back in 2014-2015.

@Disneyhead was pointing out as far back as 2013 that his sources at Universal said that they were trying to get back the Lockheed land and were looking at a separate 2nd resort as their favored mode of expansion versus buying up properties around the 1st resort to extend CityWalk. In those posts he brought up the 2023-2025 timeline for the next dry park assuming of course that they got the land within 3-4 years before that.

It sounds as if that's the rough guess that Universal could give Nintendo in their talks.

Still, the current Universal leadership negotiated the Marvel contract and Harry Potter contract, both of which gave zones of exclusivity and allowed possible expansion to multiple US theme parks.

Until someone actually shows evidence that they didn't negotiate the same way with Nintendo's rights, then I'd be inclined to believe that they mentioned probable/possible expansion and negotiated in that option as they did in the previous major rights agreements.

 

[chickenlilchip]

Its for sewage. It means the bathrooms or other drains don't have enough fall from where they are going to be located to where they tie into the main lines. At the most basic level, its a pump that pumps the sewage from a lower tank to a higher tank. Theres other ways to do it besides tanks and pumps, but thats the basic idea.

This was also from about 7 months ago. I'm really curious if this was from a Info request and is just now getting answered or what the scenario is that led to it coming out now.

Y'all can ask me. I'm on the forums. I can't get into right now because the city may read these forums, but I can give you a few hints as to why it's coming out now. Any of you familiar with Chapter 119, Florida Statutes and how it works? Well, read Chapter 119.071(3)(c) and that should give you an idea.

It's much more mundane than my lack of transparency makes it seem. I can't clarify more.

 

[quinnmac000]

Given that there's typically confidentiality requirements in these types of contractual discussions, it's likely that Universal at least brought up that they were likely to be looking at a 3rd dry park in a 5-15 year time frame. I doubt they'd be able to be much more specific than that though back in 2014-2015.

@Disneyhead was pointing out as far back as 2013 that his sources at Universal said that they were trying to get back the Lockheed land and were looking at a separate 2nd resort as their favored mode of expansion versus buying up properties around the 1st resort to extend CityWalk. In those posts he brought up the 2023-2025 timeline for the next dry park assuming of course that they got the land within 3-4 years before that.

It sounds as if that's the rough guess that Universal could give Nintendo in their talks.

Still, the current Universal leadership negotiated the Marvel contract and Harry Potter contract, both of which gave zones of exclusivity and allowed possible expansion to multiple US theme parks.

Until someone actually shows evidence that they didn't negotiate the same way with Nintendo's rights, then I'd be inclined to believe that they mentioned probable/possible expansion and negotiated in that option as they did in the previous major rights agreements.

Miyamoto already confirmed that they have rights to use in USH, USJ, and UOR...just not Beijing or Singapore. It will need to be another contract talk to expand anywhere else in Asia.

As for exclusivity, I think they have exclusive "official theme park" usage for Nintendo official IPs but not for shared IPs like Pokemon which is opening their own attractions stateside across multiple states.

 

[zg44]

Miyamoto already confirmed that they have rights to use in USH, USJ, and UOR...just not Beijing or Singapore. It will need to be another contract talk to expand anywhere else in Asia.

As for exclusivity, I think they have exclusive "official theme park" usage for Nintendo official IPs but not for shared IPs like Pokemon which is opening their own attractions stateside across multiple states.

Yeah, I meant that the terms that deal with how the Nintendo attractions would be spread across Orlando in particular. Universal's been good about giving itself the possibility to cover multiple Orlando parks in previous major rights agreements, and I don't see why that would have changed with Nintendo regardless of the original pitch.

 

[quinnmac000]

Yeah, I meant that the terms that deal with how the Nintendo attractions would be spread across Orlando in particular. Universal's been good about giving itself the possibility to cover multiple Orlando parks in previous major rights agreements, and I don't see why that would have changed with Nintendo regardless of the original pitch.

I doubt it but until someone finds out what subsidiary the agreement is possible filed under in regards to SEC we won't know. All the other contracts were filled under the old filing system so this adds a screw in finding out information.

 

[Mike S]

Miyamoto already confirmed that they have rights to use in USH, USJ, and UOR...just not Beijing or Singapore. It will need to be another contract talk to expand anywhere else in Asia.

As for exclusivity, I think they have exclusive "official theme park" usage for Nintendo official IPs but not for shared IPs like Pokemon which is opening their own attractions stateside across multiple states.

What Pokémon attractions?

 

[quinnmac000]

What Pokémon attractions?

Interactive Pokemon Centers nothing like rides but more elements to increase merch sales...its in partnership with Gamestop and ThinkGeek.

 

[johnnyslimane]

Y'all can ask me. I'm on the forums. I can't get into right now because the city may read these forums, but I can give you a few hints as to why it's coming out now. Any of you familiar with Chapter 119, Florida Statutes and how it works? Well, read Chapter 119.071(3)(c) and that should give you an idea.

It's much more mundane than my lack of transparency makes it seem. I can't clarify more.

While interior building details on some buildings are exempt Florida's sunshine laws, site plans are not.
Permit plans showing stormwater and wastewater improvements are generally easy to obtain. The biggest headache is that municipal employees generally already have enough work to do and tend make fulfilling these requests a low priority. The best way around this is to make a friend within the buildings department who will let you peruse the files on your own.

 

[fryoj]

Y'all can ask me. I'm on the forums. I can't get into right now because the city may read these forums, but I can give you a few hints as to why it's coming out now. Any of you familiar with Chapter 119, Florida Statutes and how it works? Well, read Chapter 119.071(3)(c) and that should give you an idea.

It's much more mundane than my lack of transparency makes it seem. I can't clarify more.

It's fine. I assumed you had your hands tied on this. My reading of that is that the specifics of the building are exempt from public records laws which I'd always assumed. But it also says those plans may be disclosed to another government entity(or legal representative if I'm reading it right) under certain circumstances. So I'd speculate that you or someone at your company has a contact/mole/someone under the imperious curse at a government agency(or law firm) that has seen the plans. You don't need to confirm or deny. As much as the theme park and construction geeks in me would love to see the plans and dissect them, it's not worth someone losing a job or getting in trouble over. I appreciate what you've been able to provide already.

Edit: But after reading your reply, my explanation isn't very mundane, so I might be reading too much into it.

 

[tankart150]

Would never happen. Not enough viable properties

Yes there is!

 

[Legacy]

Yes there is!

“Viable” being widely recognized and accessible to the range of ages and demographics necessary for a successful park? I’d argue there’s a limit.

Nintendo is a gimme, but beyond that almost everything is pretty niche. There are a number of niches, sure, but stuff will still alienate. You also run into various publishers wanting exclusivity rights.

 

[Mike S]

“Viable” being widely recognized and accessible to the range of ages and demographics necessary for a successful park? I’d argue there’s a limit.

Nintendo is a gimme, but beyond that almost everything is pretty niche. There are a number of niches, sure, but stuff will still alienate. You also run into various publishers wanting exclusivity rights.

Minecraft is about all that comes to mind.

 

[deathcab4cutie]

sonic,final fantasy,wow,and other franchises do seem to be limited but they still have upwards of of 100s of millions of fans.

 

[Brian G.]

sonic,final fantasy,wow,and other franchises do seem to be limited but they still have upwards of of 100s of millions of fans.

WoW probably would have been the only one that could have held its own but let’s not forget what happened with the last attempt to main stream the property.

Warcraft (film) - Wikipedia

 

[zg44]

Nintendo is the exception rather than the rule probably for video games in theme parks. It's similar to Disney creating a cruise line.

If you have a brand with deep appeal to families as a "lifestyle" type of brand, then you bring that crossover appeal to other types of ventures outside of your main markets.

Nintendo has a crossover appeal that Activision-Blizzard/EA/Sony/Microsoft/TakeTwo/Valve-Steam/Capcom/Sega/Squaresoft/etc. just don't have. If you look at that list of gaming companies (or corporations that own gaming divisions), none of them own properties that can rival Mario or Pokemon among the general public in terms of brand recognition and crossover appeal.

That's not to take away from the massive success of Activision-Blizzard or EA or TakeTwo games, many of which sell in the $100m+ range within days of release. It's just that none of them have developed successful crossover appeal that books or movies have in terms of merchandise/theme parks/etc.

 

[Paulio]

My problem is that most Nintendo games don't have any strong storytelling, but rather the gameplay it s the strongest. My hopes for Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment teaming up with Nintendo is to make it exactly like Lego Batman and the Peanuts movie. However, Illumination movies have always irrelevant stories with no real meaning or purpose for their target audience (really, what does the Minions movie or Despicable Me series teach children? There are no life values in these films). They consistently cheap out on animation and it's painfully obvious how every movie is just designed to appeal to the widest audience and not those with intelligence. Easily marketable bland character designs that go great on toys and t-shirts.

I think that's what Nintendo is aiming for: a strong marketable film with the well-known characters with no regards to the actual story-telling in a Pixar/Disney way. And Disney has always been known to not let any outsiders telling them what to do with their stories, as in among themselves. The deal with Universal makes sense as they already teamed up to create a Nintendo themed land in Universal parks and that it allows Illumination executives to have the insight of their characters. However, Illumination doesn't really give me hope they would put out the best story-telling there is, even DWA.

 

[Legacy]

sonic,final fantasy,wow,and other franchises do seem to be limited but they still have upwards of of 100s of millions of fans.

World of Warcraft had just under 6 million active subscribers at the end of 2015, and peaked at 12m in the later half of 2010.

Final Fantasy XV has only sold 6.5 million total units (all systems) since its release on 29 November 2016.

Sonic Forces "completely flopped," barely selling over 10k in Japan, and not even cracking 6k it's first week on PS4 in the US.

Conversely, Super Mario Odyssey has sold over 2 million units in four days.


Gamers aren't as ubiquitous as they'd like to think. Because, sure, 6m WOW subscribers plus 6.5 FF15 players equal 12.5m... but there is a LOT of crossover in that number. You maybe have 10 individuals in those numbers, and just because they play the games doesn't mean they're such big fans they'll drop $5k to visit a park for a week.

Compared to television and movies, video games are still essentially a cottage industry. Mario is the only character to equate to Mickey Mouse on universal recognition and appeal. Statistically, he is more popular and known than Bugs Bunny. To think that other video game franchise are even close to comparing to that is hopeful, but uninformed.

 

[Magic-Man]

World of Warcraft had just under 6 million active subscribers at the end of 2015, and peaked at 12m in the later half of 2010.

Final Fantasy XV has only sold 6.5 million total units (all systems) since its release on 29 November 2016.

Sonic Forces "completely flopped," barely selling over 10k in Japan, and not even cracking 6k it's first week on PS4 in the US.

Conversely, Super Mario Odyssey has sold over 2 million units in four days.


Gamers aren't as ubiquitous as they'd like to think. Because, sure, 6m WOW subscribers plus 6.5 FF15 players equal 12.5m... but there is a LOT of crossover in that number. You maybe have 10 individuals in those numbers, and just because they play the games doesn't mean they're such big fans they'll drop $5k to visit a park for a week.

Compared to television and movies, video games are still essentially a cottage industry. Mario is the only character to equate to Mickey Mouse on universal recognition and appeal. Statistically, he is more popular and known than Bugs Bunny. To think that other video game franchise are even close to comparing to that is hopeful, but uninformed.

*cough* Minecraft *cough*

 

[JungleSkip]

*cough* Minecraft *cough*

Minecraft is the only other thing I could see being a legit draw...but I also have no idea how you could make any Minecraft attractions

 

[fryoj]

Minecraft is the only other thing I could see being a legit draw...but I also have no idea how you could make any Minecraft attractions

But is Minecraft big enough in the demo that books a trip to a theme park? It's still relatively new, so most of the the users are teens or young adults. I know there are a percentage of Minecraft players that would and could, but is it enough?