Cash is king. Video game companies will never hide the fact that their ultimate objective is to be sitting in the highest throne of the kingdom at the end of the day, though the same can be said for any entity in any business. Of course, getting to the top doesn’t mean that you have to exploit fans of a non-video game series by mailing in the effort to produce something a product of lower quality. Publishers are doing a disservice not just to the fans, but to themselves as well by allowing developers relax when it comes to these products – well-developed games have the potential to sell to an even larger audience.

Rapper, gunshot victim and apparent avid gamer 50 Cent was recently licensed for his first title, 50 Cent Bulletproof. The game was a third-person shoot-em up, and according to Gamerankings.com, was universally panned by critics with an average score of 46.5% on PS2 (51.8% on Xbox). It also easily sold over a million copies, mostly to fans of Fiddy (as the kids call him), not video games. Now, surely there is some middle ground where fans of both come together, but the simple truth is anyone who bought the game was shortchanged. Given the platinum status of Bulletproof’s sales, a sequel is coming out for the PS3 and Xbox 360 called 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, where the titular hip-hop star heads to Iraq to open fire on insurgents. So far, all press points toward a more complete outing with Blood on the Sand, with a style of gameplay ripped off from styled after Gears of War, but like most copy-cats this could very well end up a shallow imposter of its inspiration.

More susceptible to licensed crap than rap lovers, however, are children. Slap Spongebob on the front of "War and Peace" and it’s a good bet that many a four-to-ten year old will want a copy of Tolstoy’s masterpiece. Nickelodeon has been filling the market with terrible games based on their properties for years, most recently with "Avatar," but as far back as "Rugrats." Most of their "Spongebob Squarepants" games have been passable, if not derivative platforming adventures, but a game like Nicktoons Unite! does more to damage the license than Battle for Bikini Bottom does to build it up. Warner Bros. are more recently a bigger offender. Looney Tunes Acme Arsenal recently hit the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS2, and its scores rank in at an average of 36.4% across all three systems according to Gamerankings. The fact that it’s Looney Tunes means it’s going to move some volume no matter the quality of the game, so what gives? Why not give your loyal fans, who are mostly naïve children, something worth spending their time and money on? The truth is that kids will play anything put in front of them so long as it’s based on something they like.

There are some licensed games out there that aren’t completely awful, and are sometimes even good. Activision has done wonders with the Marvel titles they’ve produced, including the Spider-Man games, X-Men Legends, and Marvel Ultimate Allicance. They also look like they’re going to do a world of good with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, regardless of how you feel about the band. Sure, it’s pretty hard to screw up the GH formula at this point, but they’re going the extra mile by recording and motion-capturing Steven Tyler and the rest of the band for accurate on-stage performances. Of course for every success story there seem to be five failures. Games like 300: March to Glory, the promising-yet-unfulfilling Ghost Rider from 2K Games, and even NFL Tour, the newest imagination of pick-up-and-play football from EA are examples of terrible licensed games.

Game companies shouldn’t be happy these games will sell a menial amount just because of their licenses, they should be trying to maximize the potential of the marketplace. A game with a good license might rope a few gamers in, but it will probably only grab casual gamers and fans of the series. A great game with a license has the potential to pique the attention of the whole enchilada – fans of the license and gamers. But what’s another couple months of effort if the money comes in quicker?