Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Game Industry Bigger Than Hollywood

Posted by michael on from the been-true-for-a-while dept.

Ant writes "This SF Gate story says stacks of new releases for hungry video game enthusiasts mean it's boom time for an industry now even bigger than Hollywood. The $10 billion video game industry, which generates more revenue than Hollywood, has never released so many highly anticipated blockbuster titles in a single season. It started in August with the game title Doom 3, followed by The Sims 2 in September, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in October, then Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Half-Life 2 last month. In November, sales of video games rose to $849 million, an 11 percent increase from the same month last year and up 77 percent from October, according to the industry research firm NPD Funworld. The industry set a milestone last month when Microsoft's Halo 2 -- a sequel to a futuristic game with an elaborate plot that pits humans against invading aliens -- surpassed Hollywood's opening-weekend movie box office record in just one day of sales."

14 of 503 comments (clear)

  1. Bleh by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I know I speak for many here when I say that while I'm glad that the creators of my favorite games are making money, I'm dying inside when I think of what this ultimately means for the future of the games industry.

    --
    Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    1. Re:Bleh by Lisandro · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Mod parent up, please.

      The problem is that when a new entertainment market starts creating serious money it becomes bastardized. Happened to music, happened to TV, happened to movies and rest assured, it will happen to games.

      Hell, you could argue that it has already happened. A sign? All of the games in the list are sequels; which almost guarantees a base of sales. Some of them are good, some of them aren't, but there's hardly anything new or fresh offered in games nowadays; since seen genres with newer graphics are easy to sell we still see FPS, MMORPGs, GTA (which WAS fun, but i don't want to play the same game for the third time), sport simulations and so. Publishers simply go for the quick buck. I died a bit when Lucasarts canned the sequels for Sam & Max and Full Throttle to concentrate on Star Wars licences.

      The only innovative thing i've seen from a major games publisher was Nintendo with it's DS; i haven't tried one yet but it looks good on paper and the touch screen and onboard WiFi are potentially great gaming aids. That could be a gateway to some interesting games, which knowing Nintendo, won't be too far away.

  2. All sequels by RedWizzard · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It started in August with the game title Doom 3, followed by The Sims 2 in September, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in October, then Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Half-Life 2 last month.
    Every one of these "blockbuster" titles are sequels. Is anyone doing anything new and exciting?
    1. Re:All sequels by thenextpresident · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes. Releasing sequels that are actually as good, or better, than the originals.

      Something Hollywood finds next to impossible.

      --
      Jason Lotito
    2. Re:All sequels by Khuffie · · Score: 4, Insightful
      What's wrong with sequels? There's a difference between sequels churned out every year (ala EA), and sequels that really added some new cool things. Doom 2 was released years ago. So was the original Half-Life. Halo 2's been in the making for over 2 years. The original Sims been out for a while. The only games in that list that didn't fundementally change the gameplay were GTA:SA and MP2. In fact, all of those games, sequels or not, were in fact friggin' good games.

      There's a difference between good sequels, and shoddy sequels which were just designed as quick cash machines. The Splinter Cell series and the latest Prince of Persia game are both guilty as charged, and basically any EA sports game.

  3. Ahem... by googleaseerch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What about UT2004. I'm sorry, that was a blockbuster game too, if anything is.

  4. Oooh, so piracy DOESN'T hurt sales.. by DroopyStonx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's what I thought...

    --
    We have secretly replaced these Slashdot mods' sense of humor with a rusty nail. Let's see if they notice!!
  5. A new form of entertainment taking over by Faust7 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The rich, detailed, immersive settings for what used to be entirely passive entertainment can now, with the current technology, be used for interactive entertainment.

    All those wonderful spy-drama, fantasy, and sci-fi worlds that used to be the exclusive domain of movies? Now their realism is being delivered to you in a way that you can actually be in - if you're open to the experience.

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
  6. Recurring revenue, too... by arashiakari · · Score: 5, Insightful

    MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft get a hit of cash up front and then involve monthly revenue. Hollywood has nothing like that.

    Most games cost between $30 and $50, no-matter what platform you're buying for. How much is a movie ticket? $8 to $10 for tickets or $20 to $30 for DVDs. How much do games cost to make vs. the revenue they bring in?

  7. Re:Contrinutions by caspper69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Very true, and I was thinking the same thing when I read the blurb. Further, they don't include sales of DVD players themselves either, whereas the games industry most certainly includes the hardware sales dollars from dedicated consoles. Then you can also talk about international distribution and other market's native films, etc., etc.. Hollywood (and television in general) still makes many, many times what the videogame industry does.

  8. Not quite by Smerity · · Score: 5, Insightful
    As I heard at the AEAF (Australian Effects and Animation Festival), games sales may be higher, but the rights for Hollywood are much more flexible, for example.

    Mainly, Hollywood can release a movie, get box office, sell the DVD, license the movie to networks, and sell other rights (for a TV show based on it, sequels), while a game sells and if it doesn't sell well, it's dead in the water

  9. Book Industry: $23.4 Billion in 2003 by meehawl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Book Industry garnered $23.4 billion in 2003 - and that was a flat recession year. When video games pass books in dollar volume, then we will know the end of civilisation is at hand.

    --

    Da Blog
    1. Re:Book Industry: $23.4 Billion in 2003 by CaptainPinko · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it already has come. how much of those book sales were educated or artistically signifant? I bet the majority of them were pulp. In the words of Harvey Danger "The cretins are cloning breeding"... and apparently they are addicted to twitch-style video games.

      --
      Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
  10. Re:poor programmers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The poor programmers could always band together and form their own gaming company.

    Sure, and a few engineers can always start their own car company. I wish them luck against the entrenched power of Detroit.

    The original poster's point is that we are living in a second Gilded Age, a second age of robber barons. This age will end eventually, but the serfs will have to suffer a bit more before they start rebelling.