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."

28 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. Re:All sequels by T-Ranger · · Score: 4, Funny

      I saw it last Monday. Im still waiting for something to happen.

  3. Gaming Industry Rise by Fruvous · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is it that suprising? A video game can offer so much more than an hour and a half movie. Not only that but the "sequal factor" really starts piling up. Look ever single game up there has been a sequal.

    --
    This is one of those witty signatures that you'll remember.
  4. Ahem... by googleaseerch · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

  5. 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!!
    1. Re:Oooh, so piracy DOESN'T hurt sales.. by oGMo · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, clearly, gamers are pirates, stealing money from the pockets and food from the plates of Hollywood executives!!

      --

      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  6. Re:Contrinutions by iocat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not enough... The game industry is bigger than Hollywood, if you only count US boxoffice receipts. But these "game industry is bigger than Hollywood" claims always leave out the rental and DVD sales market.

    --

    Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

  7. 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.
  8. Pitty the partners by ricewind · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somewhere, EA_Spouse is crying.

  9. 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?

  10. 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.

  11. 1999 called... by Billy+the+Mountain · · Score: 5, Funny

    they want their headline back!

    BTM

    --
    That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
  12. In Other news... by muntumbomoklik · · Score: 5, Funny

    the MPAA and RIAA decide to sue game companies, citinglost revenue.

  13. Piracy comparisons? by Tzarius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Doesn't it seem odd that an industry that would take more losses from piracy (i.e. a much higher percentage of users that already have the means and ability to pirate the products, and where the individual products are priced higher, providing further incentive for piracy) is making more money than the film industry, which should have a much larger customer base?

    Or is it that the barrier-to-piracy on movies is a lot lower?

  14. 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

  15. Re:I still have games that I have not played... by KingAdrock · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm curious. In NHL 2005 do you just sit there and watch an empty ice surface?

  16. 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.
    2. Re:Book Industry: $23.4 Billion in 2003 by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 5, Funny

      But how many of those books were game guides and walkthroughs?

      --

      "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  17. Re:Another leveling factor by System.out.println() · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lots of people go to see movies they like multiple times. But how many people buy multiple copies of a game they like?

    While we're on the subject, how many people buy ONE copy of a game they like? ;-)

    --
    I've got more mod points and GMail invi
  18. Nah. It's not bigger. by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    Not even close. Hollywood films alone account for about $63 billion.

    By comparison, IBM has revenues of about $80 billion per year.

  19. The Smaller Screen by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Informative

    What exactly is this "Hollywood" that Matthew Yi claims is smaller than the $10B "Game Industry" in TFA? Maybe it doesn't include the $14B US ($32B global) record industry: a business run out of LA, mostly, and NYC, even if it's 80% owned in Tokyo/Sony, Berlin/BMG and Paris/Vivendi-Universal. Is it just movies (not TV, either)? The actual scale of "filmed entertainment" revenue (not including music videos, part of the "recorded music" industry) was $75.3B globally, before the predicted 7.5% growth rate for 2004 (ie. $81B). Porn movies and website subscriptions alone have a global revenue of $8-10B. Maybe video games are bigger than Hollywood the same way that John Lennon was bigger than Jesus.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  20. Not just Apples and Oranges, just plain wrong! by PenguinOpus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Movies gross more than Games... always have, maybe always will. The stupid comparison made here is one that the game industry loves to make when trying to get mindshare... Compare movie box office versus game software/hardware sales.

    If you include DVD/media sales of movies, movies win. If you don't include console hardware sales, movies win.

    The movie industry (worldwide) grosses $180B. US movie industry grosses 63B. Box office only accounts for 26% of revenue.

    reference: http://www.factbook.net/wbglobal_rev.htm

  21. 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.