Is there hope that a game based on Phelps could be anything more than a soulless cash cow?

It recently came to light in a 60 Minutes biography of Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps that a videogame based on the swimmer and, presumably, his sporting achievements.

The modern world has a history of throwing Olympic heroes in at the deep end, drowning them in an ocean of contracts for product endorsements and special appearances. It seems only logical that the Michael Phelps brand should be extended into videogames so the guy can have a title or two to his name. After all, he has already joined the long line of celebrities recreating the air-guitar scene from ‘Risky Business’ for ‘Guitar Hero’ and been publicly plied with a promotional copy of ‘Call of Duty: World at War’.

Sports games, too, have a long history and culture of professional endorsement. In the most cold, textbook conception of celebrity endorsement their support adds perceived credibility to the end product via their expertise in a given sport or discipline. Tony Hawk is a great skateboarder; therefore any product he endorses will reflect and share that same degree of awesomeness. Or so the theory goes.

There is something that would set any Michael Phelps game apart, however. The thing about the Tony Hawk or Madden series is that they are sports games first and formost, Skateboarding and Gridiron respectively, endorsed by professionals in their individual fields.

The way that Phelps’ eight gold medals have been so mechanically smelted down into one big bar of marketing bullion seems to imply, unfortunately, that any resulting game based around the Olympic glory of Phelps would be just that – a game about him.

If a game is more concerned with cashing in on the personality and ongoing public love affair with a brand such as Phelps - rather than the sport and the science behind it - then there is a chance that the resulting game would suffer in terms of the delivered experience. Surely then we’re entering into the realm of the plethora of poorly constructed virtual brand extensions usually reserved for the likes of blockbuster movies and hit TV shows?

There is no reason why this should be the case though, of course it will all depend on how seriously those managing the Phelps brand take the game and who they commission to develop it. As any medium goes mainstream it seems to come with the territory that it will populated with those titles of genuine entertaining and artistic quality along with those chasing the lowest common financial denominator. This reflects poorly on the medium generally and is a waste of time and talent - the irony, however, is that these IP still seem to sell like hotcakes.

 Editor's Note: This article is posted by a reader of Edge and does not necesarily reflect the opinions of Edge's editorial team.