VIDEOGAMES KILL

Short post.

I was reading about the April launch of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV - a titled that has long been delayed.

This title is shipping to stores 3 days before Iron Man (and although industry pundits predict movie goers will be willing to part ways from the game to see the first superhero movie in almost a year), they are worried that the game could cause a ripple effect that will destroy TV and Film revenues.

When Halo 3 launched, TV shows were coming back from Summer hiatus. The only demographic that was down - THE ONLY ONE - was men 18-24. Why? Because they were all cooped up at home with a tub of red vines and a 24-pack of mountain dew trying to frag all their friends in Slayer-mode.

When Super Smash Bros launched a couple months back, the male 18-24 demographic dramatically dropped due supposedly to these men playing the game.

With over 400 million expected to be made by Take-Two (The publishers for GTAIV) in the first week alone, this revenue is seen as a golden ticket for the gaming industry -- I myself have no system but am considering buying one so I can play this game...

Basically, TV and Film executives have new trouble in town - once seen as a passing fad in the 80's when pong and pac-man were hits, videogames now can be considered almost as big a threat to film/tv revenues as piracy. DUNT DUNT DUNT.

I must be going now - I need to finish my brickbreaker game (going for a high score).


IF YOU ARE INTERESTED - MARY THURTLE, a USC Major in Dance and Baller of Choreography, wrote similar statements in a thesis for WRIT-340 for USC - see below:

"Another budding factor that affects crowds at the box office is > the segmentation of the entertainment industry to include > untraditional media, such as video games. The online video gaming > industry is particularly becoming an industry that, like movies > seen at the theaters, creates a communal experience for its > participants. Therefore video games are capturing an audience that > has similar interest in experiencing entertainment in a group. > Although video games have existed for decades, only recently have > users been able to virtually connect and network through > established online communities. For example, Xbox 360, enabled with > Xbox Live’s online virtual networking, is a new console that > captures a young audience who had previously opted to the cinema > for a group activity. > > > This correlation between choosing to play video games instead of > going to the movie theater is quite apparent. As case in point, > many film executives believe the September 26th release of the Xbox > 360 game, Halo 3, was a factor in declining theater attendance the > weekend of October 5th (Brodesser-Akner). The Heartbreak Kid, > produced by DreamWorks Pictures, was expected to gross $20-25 > million opening weekend, but instead earned a mere $14 million. > Further displaying the irregular decline in ticket sales the > October 5th weekend, the movie industry as a whole made 27% less > revenue compared with the same weekend in 2006 (Brodesser-Akner). > To get a sense of how extremely Halo 3 consumes the young target > movie-going audience, consider the facts that “(Halo 3) players > racked up more than … 40 million hours by the end of the first > week… (totaling) more than 4,500 years of continuous game > play” (Brodesser-Akner). Now that video games are equipped to > coordinate huge virtual communities, the shared experience that was > once unique to going to the cinema now applies to more forms of > entertainment."