Rebellion, according to their wiki page, is now the largest independent European game development studio, recently hoovering up the Tomb Raider developers Core Design among lots of smart acquisitions over the last few years. They are best known for the Aliens vs Predator Sega game,
Perhaps their smartest acquisition is 2000AD, the seminal British comic from which the character Judge Dredd is taken
(First question - how often do Games companies buy comics publishers?)
Buying 2000AD gave Rebellion access to a whole library of great characters created by writing talent which went onto revolutionise the US comics scene. They have tried cashing in on games with some of the more famous characters but before now they've not really been able to fully exploit them.
This is definitely about to change. The Dredd film is out to very positive reviews and crazy business, despite only costing a minuscule $40million to make. Film gossip is already talking about a three film trilogy. 2000AD does not have a 'universe' in the same way as Marvel or DC but the characters are interconnected, and potentially a successful Dredd film opens up a whole series of future adaptations (Rogue Trooper, ABC Warriors, Strontium Dog, Harlem Heroes, Nemesis The Warlock etc etc) which Rebellion have the rights to
On top of that Rebellion have just began making 2000AD issues available on the Ipad. At approx $2 a go, when Rebellion put 35 years of back issues online they could be sitting on a goldmine..
What are the chances this little games company are going to turn into the British, or even European equivalent of Marvel or DC?
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