Warner Bros. just filed a trademark application for The Bachelor: Second Chance, and I’ve decided this is the funniest possible thing to happen in gaming this year. The franchise has conquered TV screens all over the world but apparently couldn’t conquer the Nintendo Wii back in 2010. Who could have predicted that a dating show tie-in game would flop harder than a contestant’s limo exit monologue?
Why Is This Happening Again
Look, I need someone to explain the business logic to me. The Bachelor: The Videogame launched on Wii and DS in 2010, and most reviews were negative. In a 2014 look back, The A.V. Club said its tasks were more taxing than the writer’s worst real dates, adding, “The escapist version is more miserable than the real thing.” HollywoodChicago.com gave it a 2.5 out of 5, which is bad but not quite apocalyptic. Jirard Khalil, the YouTube host behind The Completionist, billed his 2018 New Game Plus episode on the DS version as a review of the worst video game he had ever played, which is a strong statement from a man who plays bad games on purpose.
Kotaku’s Ashley Bardhan said in 2022 that it sucks and then admitted to watching the show because “I am no better than a brainless earthworm,” so consider the source on that one. Yet 16 years later, Warner Bros. is filing trademarks like a person who keeps texting their ex hoping for a different result. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) received the paperwork Oct. 28, according to Insider Gaming, and the internet immediately started speculating about what Second Chance actually means.
Read the Fine Print, People
The application covers Classes 9 and 41, and Insider Gaming counted game-related keywords more than a dozen times. That’s twice as many game mentions as film mentions, according to the outlet, which tells you plenty about the direction here.
CD-ROM computer game discs. Downloadable software for online computer games. Computer game software for mobile phones. Video game cartridges. Game software for gaming machines, including slot machines. Slot machines. Let that sink in. A Bachelor slot machine. I’d play it once, lose $40 and then write a scathing review about how the bonus round reminded me of Fantasy Suites.
Here’s the kicker: Warner Bros. has been down this road before. Scientific Games showcased a licensed The Bachelor slot game at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in 2016, and Warner Bros. filed a U.S. trademark for The Bachelor covering slot machine software in 2017, the same day it filed matching applications for Seinfeld and Friends. So the casino language may be less a bombshell and more a habit.
The Title Says It All
Insider Gaming floated the obvious readings of Second Chance: a sequel, a little wordplay about the IP taking another swing at gaming or contestants who lost on the show coming back with the player in control. That last option is the most chaotic and therefore the one I’m rooting for. Imagine piloting a guy who got sent home in Week 3 because he couldn’t stop talking about his crypto portfolio. You guide him through cocktail parties, rose ceremonies and awkward hot tub conversations. That’s not a game. That’s a documentary about my 20s.
Going Wide or Going Home
Warner Bros. might have learned something from the 2010 disaster. The application name-checks computers, mobile devices and consoles, and Insider Gaming reads that as a multiplatform plan. I’d pump the brakes a little, because trademark lists are written to cover everything and none of this confirms a single platform. Still, if the company is thinking bigger than porting a failed Wii title to modern hardware like some kind of digital grave robber, smarter approach, honestly.
The original game’s failure probably had less to do with the concept and more to do with the fact that it was a pile of janky mini-games, with Wii Remote controls HollywoodChicago.com called unresponsive, on a console that was already aging. My bias is clear: I want this game to exist. I want it to be ridiculous. I want it to be the kind of thing you play at 1 a.m. with friends while eating cold pizza and questioning every life choice that led you there.
What Could It Even Look Like
The speculation possibilities are endless, and I’ve been thinking about them way too much. Maybe you manage a mansion full of contestants and deal with drama like a reality TV version of The Sims. Maybe it’s a visual novel where every dialogue choice determines who gets the final rose. Maybe it’s a rhythm game where you tap buttons to match the dramatic piano stings.
The filing mentions downloadable software for playing online computer games, so online multiplayer seems possible. The 2010 game already had multiplayer in the same room, which HollywoodChicago.com called the best way to play. Competing against friends online for a virtual rose. That’s either genius or a war crime depending on the friend group. I’ve seen friendships end over Mario Party. Adding romance and betrayal to the mix feels like handing gasoline to an arsonist.
Time Will Tell, As Usual
A trademark isn’t a game. It’s a maybe with legal paperwork attached. Until Warner Bros. actually announces something, this remains speculation fueled by hope and the collective memory of how bad the first game was. The filing is real, but as Insider Gaming noted, a trademark alone doesn’t prove anything is in development.
The keywords are aggressive. The platform list is ambitious. And the title Second Chance is almost too on the nose. Sixteen years after the original flopped, the franchise might actually get another shot. If it works, great. If it fails, at least we’ll get another terrible game to laugh about for the next 16 years. Either way, I’m winning. The new slot machine better be real, though.
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