Movies and the Gaming industry split

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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Edit- split here from Vin Diesel/Hitman thread--- welsh.


This raises the interesting point that by now the gaming industry has by far outgrown the movie industry and while one is still growing the other is going through a malaise that they're unable to solve because they lack all creativity and talent (burn, Hollywood, burn)

Just look at the negotiations of the movie-rights of Halo, the gaming company got supervisory and probably fnial cut-rights, not to mention that they get to define the final print of the game. Plus something like 10% of the net profits, with some millions up front.

Heh, funny when you consider a large chunk of Hollywood already works together closely with the military. Almost every war film you see today has had its script checked and double-checked and approved by the military.

Funny, half of Hollywood is military-governed, the other half game company-governed. Don't leave much room for creativity

Did I mention American film-making these days sucks?
 
Kharn said:
This raises the interesting point that by now the gaming industry has by far outgrown the movie industry and while one is still growing the other is going through a malaise that they're unable to solve because they lack all creativity and talent (burn, Hollywood, burn)
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You sure about that?

2004 statistics for USA:

(movies)

box office sales - $9b
DVD sales & rentals - $16b
VHS sales & rentals - $6b
______________________

$31b

(games)

console & portable - $6.2b
computer - $700m
______________________

$6.9b

In short, movie industry >> game industry.
 
And PC games industry <<< Console industry, apparently.

Damned, Herve was right.
 
Kharn's right about the movie thing. While DVD sales and rentals have been up, the box office itself has been hurting for a long time.
 
Ratty said:
In short, movie industry >> game industry.
Click to expand...

Those numbers are odd, man, where're they from? I have different numbers, I'm afraid.

In any case, "outgrown" was the wrong term, "outpaced" might be more like it, but in any case the balance certainly isn't like it was. The start of this year has seen a 11% decrease in American (non-indep) film revenues, and this year is likely to have the same revenue as 1996. Talk about regression.

According to the Volkskrant, last year the revenue in computer games in the States was 10 billion.
Box office revenue of biggest movie producer Warner Bros. (AOL Time Warner) that year: one billion.
Revenue of biggest game producer EA that year: 2.96 billion
(though comparing total revenue to box office is a bit skewed)
Hell, Halo 2 made 125 million dollar the day it was released, more than any blockbuster in the history of anywhere ever.

This is the reason the AG was asking for more money for VA work. There's less and less money in films and more and more in VG.
 
Kharn said:
In any case, "outgrown" was the wrong term, "outpaced" might be more like it, but in any case the balance certainly isn't like it was.
Click to expand...
That's not entirely true, I'm afraid. If you count only game sales, then the overall increase was 8%, which is pretty good. But if you also take into account hardware sales (which is included in the figure you cite below), there was a 1% decrease. Hard to believe, but true.

The game industry is currently undergoing a crisis that stems from constantly rising technological bar a project must meet in order to be competitive. As a result, games have become overly expensive to develop and thus an extremely risky venture, especially when you consider how heavy competition is. Because of this, only about 5-10% games turn profit, while all others are financial losers. All these factors have gradually pushed creativity out of the equation. Overall, the crisis of the game industry is similar in nature to the crisis movie industry is experiencing, but I'd say that the latter crisis is in a more developed stage and thus we are seeing its more severe effects. Truth is, both industries are strained close to the point of breaking, and there is no telling what might happen in the future.

According to the Volkskrant, last year the revenue in computer games in the States was 10 billion.
Click to expand...
That's probably counting the hardware (consoles and console peripherals), which made about $3.7b, and not counting PC sales (which are poor anyway).

Box office revenue of biggest movie producer Warner Bros. (AOL Time Warner) that year: one billion.
Revenue of biggest game producer EA that year: 2.96 billion
(though comparing total revenue to box office is a bit skewed)
Hell, Halo 2 made 125 million dollar the day it was released, more than any blockbuster in the history of anywhere ever.
Click to expand...
Box office revenues comprise a smaller part (about one third) of overall revenues a movie generates. For games, on the other hand, almost all revenues come from CD/DVD sales. A movie that brings in little money in the opening weekend can still turn profit through DVD sales and rentals in the upcoming months. However, if a game sells poorly in the first few days, it likely spells doom not only for the game, but for the development team as well.
 
Thread has been split from the Van Diesel as Hitman thread.

Ebert was saying what Kharn is- that the movie industry isn't doing as well and part of that has to do with lack of imagination.

That said, gaming has more opportunities as a source of entertainment, and more potential appeal.
 
Ratty said:
Box office revenues comprise a smaller part (about one third) of overall revenues a movie generates. For games, on the other hand, almost all revenues come from CD/DVD sales. A movie that brings in little money in the opening weekend can still turn profit through DVD sales and rentals in the upcoming months. However, if a game sells poorly in the first few days, it likely spells doom not only for the game, but for the development team as well.
Click to expand...

See, this is odd, because historically box office revenues comprise more than 60% of the movie industry revenue. Right now they're stuck at 26%.

That's why, according to most analysts, the movie industry is in trouble. Movie has always been outdoors entertainment while with the coming of the DVD it's slowly eeking towards home entertainment. The revenues generated this way is too low, hence the 11% decrease in the movie industry. DVD has replaced the theater as the most popular venue but is incapable of replacing it in monetary terms.

But the thing is, if DVD is a part of the home industry, then games are too, which is why the games industry is doing a lot better than the movie industry. They both have their problems, but technically the game industry could be set to expand, while Hollywood has no choice whatsoever than to shrink as DVD can't really catch up to box office in monetary terms.

The more the film industry adapts to the current DVD and p2p situation, the better for it. It doesn't have any inherent problems when it comes to creativity, 'cept for the stupidity of the producers and the obsession with block-busters.

The game industry has many more problems, since it's whole system of pay and development is based on block-buster thinking, leaving a lot of creative and sucky projects behind. The whole royalty deal thing is a good example of that.
 
George Romero's new film "Land of the Dead" pulled in $10 mil at the box office the opening weekend. He commented on possibly making a part two or a sequel to "Land of the Dead" if it makes enough money in the box office so i'm gonna have to cross my fingers. :)
 
Kharn said:
The more the film industry adapts to the current DVD and p2p situation, the better for it. It doesn't have any inherent problems when it comes to creativity, 'cept for the stupidity of the producers and the obsession with block-busters.
Click to expand...
They should first and foremost do something to bring people back into cinemas. I don't know about you, but I don't see much appeal in watching 20 minutes of commercials followed by a movie with image and sound quality that is only slightly better than what I can have in the comfort of my own home. As far as I can tell, the only advantage of going to cinema to watch a movie is the social factor, since it counts as "going out". But then again, I can also "go out" to a club or a bar, both of which provide a better social experience. My suggestion - show a free ten-minute porno after the movie.
 
True, it would help if the cinema gave people a reason to go, rather than double-fucking them at the concession stand and have to deal with other people who might ruin the movie in some way. With the advent of sound system quality, the con artist of the "cinema experience" is starting to be hurt in the most ironic form of karma I have seen in a while. Well, aside from Ballerium being cancelled. :D

Mmmm, bring back the old theaters, and then we might see a change in Holeywood's downward spiral down the shitter.
 
The theatre I go to regularly with my wife is an old relic, at $3 a ticket and cheaper if you buy a bonus card. Good flicks (if a bit old). Unfortunately the sound system kind of sucks.

Every year you hear about new office blockbusters- but that's always a measure of profits from ticket sales- not the number of tickets sold. Considering the price increase in tickets over the past few years I doubt any recent film can compete with older blockbusters like Jaws or Star Wars.

The movie industry says that the fact that DVDs are being released sooner than they used to be (four months now over 6 months a year or so ago), should not affect theatre ticket sales. Bullshit.

Yes, DVDs are killing the external entertainment of theaters- take the death of Drive-ins for example.

Then again $5 for a watered down super big gulp is bullshit.
 
I remember a theater during my short stay in Biloxi, MS. The Silver Screen, and it had $1 movies, but would show movies from about a year ago. Luckily, there seem to be more of these springing up as a moneymaking venture. These theaters are also serving a load of restaurant food along with having tables and chairs that feel more comfortable.

Needless to say, it was usually more filled than the Century a block north.
 
I spend $10 on the ticket popcorn and a drink here. And its funny, the only films I ever see in the theatre anymore are the small budget and foreign ones, I wait til DVD for (almost) anything out of Hollywood (had to do Star Wars).

Anyone see the film Layer Cake? Amazing flick along the same lines as Trainspotting and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. anyways...
 
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