The video game industry is known to do some pretty outrageous things to turn a profit. Cramming unnecessary microtransactions and rushing games out the door before they are properly polished are just a few common ways the industry cuts corners. However, Data Designs Interactive may be the worst of them all. The now-defunct studio once tricked gamers into buying the same video game four different times on two separate consoles.
Data Design might be the most successful Nintendo Wii developer you've never heard of. The company made a fortune making terrible games for the system, creating more than 40% of the Wii's shovelware. Although nearly all Data Design titles are forgettable pieces of trash, its 2005 title Ninjabread Man made the company infamous for all the wrong reasons.
Ninjabread Man is a poorly received action platformer that was originally planned as a reimaging of the classic Amiga title Zool. However, the game had a number of quality concerns, so Zoo Digital, the owners of the Zool franchise, stripped Data Designs of the license after seeing its a build of the game. Data Design opted to reskin the game with a katana-wielding gingerbread man and release it themselves in 2005 as Ninjabread Man.
Despite horrible reviews, Ninjabread Man laid the groundwork for a slew of future Data Designs titles. Instead of improving upon Ninjabread Man, Data Designs reskinned the game two more times, releasing each as brand new titles. Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland and Anubis II adopted Ninjabread Man's lackluster formula without changing anything except the protagonist and environmental theme. To make things worse, every game launched within months of each other, tricking some gamers into buying the same game three separate times.
Although Ninjabread Man and its replicas failed to dazzle audiences on the PlayStation 2, Data Designs decided to rerelease each game on the Nintendo Wii in 2007. However, the studio wanted to bring something new to the table as the Wii craze started to talk hold. Like clockwork, Data Designs went back and reskinned Ninjabread Man a third time to create Rock 'N' Roll Adventures. By the end of 2007, Data Designs had successfully launched three near carbon copies of Ninjabread Man across two console generations.
Somehow, Data Design's egregious scheme went relatively unnoticed by the general public. The studio went on to find great success making shovelware for the Wii until the eighth console generation took hold. The demise of the Nintendo Wii and the shovelware market ended up being too much for Data Designs, forcing them to close its doors in 2012. Despite its less-than-stellar portfolio, Data Designs will always be remembered as the studio responsible for Ninjabread Man and its notorious legacy.
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