Video Games Don't Hurt Movie Sales If You Make Good Movies

from the funny-how-that-works... dept

Last week there was some buzz over the idea that the release of Grand Theft Auto IV might hurt opening weekend box office revenues for the movie Iron Man. We were skeptical that it would have a noticeable impact -- and, indeed, the movie received tremendously positive reviews and did much better at the box office than almost everyone expected, making over $100 million. Digg points us to a blog post that points out how this utterly destroys the Hollywood myth from last year that certain movies didn't do well because of the game Halo 3. As the post notes, the secret to getting people to watch a movie appears to be to make a good movie. So, rather than whining about the competition so much, perhaps the industry should take that same effort and use it to... make better movies.

Filed Under: grand theft auto, iron man, movies, video games

Will Grand Theft Auto IV Hurt Iron Man's Opening Weekend Sales?

from the the-media-landscape-has-expanded... dept

While Marvel's lawyers have been doing plenty of work on their own to hurt interest in the new movie Iron Man, some are suggesting an even more interesting scenario: that the release this week of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV (to excellent reviews) will have an impact on how many people are willing to buy tickets to Iron Man's opening weekend. Certainly, the target audience is similar and you could definitely see some gameplayers being more interested in exploring the game than going out to the theater.

While I doubt the impact will be that noticeable (or that there will be any accurate way to measure it), it does say something about the changing media landscape. The video game industry has been trying to position itself as the "next generation Hollywood" for a few years now -- and while not entirely accurate, the growth of the industry has definitely shown that there are many more options for "entertainment dollars" than there were not so many years ago. Of course, while the movie industry keeps whining about piracy, it might want to note that it's starting to face competition from other sources as well.

Filed Under: grand theft auto, iron man, movies, video games

Stephen King Slams Attempt To Ban Violent Videogames

from the where-are-the-parents? dept

After yet another court recently tossed out yet another law that would ban the sale of certain video games to children, it appears that the state of Massachusetts is next up in the lengthy list of states wasting taxpayer money in order to appease some grandstanding politicians who want to "protect the children." However, the video game industry has an interesting ally this time around. Writer Stephen King spoke out harshly against the proposed ban while stating plenty of common sense:

"What makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous.... What really makes me insane is how eager politicians are to use the pop culture as a whipping boy. It's easy for them, even sort of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers nice and loud. Also, it allows legislators to ignore the elephants in the living room."

While perhaps not quite as eloquent as some others, it's nice to see the press picking up on King's feelings, rather than simply parroting the politicians' dubious claims concerning the need for such laws.

Filed Under: massachusetts, stephen king, video games

Another 'Free' Business Model Experiment

from the they're-all-over dept

When we discuss the basic economics having to do with infinite goods, sometimes the debates in the comments accuse me of promoting one "business model" over all others. The truth is quite different. The economics at work are fundamental. Price gets driven to marginal cost. The business models that then result, however, are numerous and varied. The key is simply recognizing that the infinite good works as a resource, increasing the value of all sorts of scarce goods. Thus, you release the infinite goods widely, and sell scarce goods that are made more valuable. How you do that can take all different concepts into account. Just in the music space alone we see so many varied models, from Radiohead's name your own price to Trent Reznor's tiered premium model to Jill Sobule's tiered support model to Maria Schneider's fan-supported production model all the way to things like The String Cheese Incident setting up their own travel agency to help fans follow them around for gigs. The key isn't a single business model. In fact, each of these individual business models might not work for any other artist. But all recognize the promotional power of the music in making something else much more valuable.

And we're seeing that show up in totally unexpected places as well. Take, for example, this recent post on Boing Boing about what's happened with a bunch of experimental video games, developed originally as part of a Carnegie Mellon project. Each game was developed in 7 days and many are given away for free. However, now a company has taken those games and made t-shirts (yes, t-shirts) using images from some of the games. Even better, though, is that with each t-shirt, you get a copy of the video game itself, and the shirts are now for sale at Target. In other words, these games are helping to make the t-shirts more valuable, even though the games themselves are free. It's yet another example of understanding the difference between infinite and scarce goods and how to use one to make money from the other.

Filed Under: business models, economics, free, t-shirts, video games
Companies: target

The Constitution Still Doesn't Let States Stop Kids From Buying Video Games

from the for-those-who-weren't-paying-attention-the-first-dozen-times dept

Again? State after state after state has passed laws that ban the sale of certain video games to children, and time after time after time those laws are struck down as unconstitutional. Not a single one has passed muster, and yet court time and taxpayer money is wasted over and over again on these same issues, with at least 10 states having gone through the same process with the same results. States cannot ban the sale of video games to children. It's a violation of the First Amendment. This does not mean that stores themselves can't make such a policy, just as movie theaters have voluntarily (not based on a law) agreed not to let kids see movies of certain ratings. But to pass a law is unconstitutional. A lower court in Minnesota made that clear in 2006 -- but it didn't stop the politicians from appealing... and losing. Yes, a federal appeals court has agreed with the lower court that banning the sale of video games is not constitutional. While the lower court had noted:

"There is a paucity of evidence linking the availability of video games with any harm to Minnesota's children at all.... It is impossible to determine from the data presented whether violent video games cause violence, or whether violent individuals are attracted to violent video games."

The appeals court was a little less direct:

"Whatever our intuitive (dare we say commonsense) feelings regarding the effect of violent video games, precedent requires undeniable proof that such violence causes psychological dysfunction...."

Despite claims to the contrary by some activists, there still is no evidence linking violent video games to violent behavior. In fact, as has been pointed out repeatedly, violent crime has continued to drop as violent video games have become more and more popular. At most, studies have shown that violent video games make people emotional, but that doesn't lead to increased violent activity outside of the game itself. Of course, that won't stop grandstand politicians from pushing for such violent video game bans, despite the knowledge that they're clearly wasting taxpayer money every time they do so.

Filed Under: constitution, first amendment, minnesota, video games, violent video games

Another Attempt To Blame The Video Game For Murder

from the the-i'm-easily-pursuaded-defense dept

The rather infamous Jack Thompson gained his fame by picking up various lawsuits that involved kids shooting people and trying to get them off by blaming the video game. Rather than admit guilt, he was attempting to keep murderers from getting convicted by saying that it was the video game that made them do it. It appears that others are now picking up on this tactic. Adam Thierer points us to a recent case where a lawyer isn't arguing that his client, a 24-year-old, didn't commit a murder. He's arguing that the guy thought he was playing a video game. This is a really weak way to try to get someone acquitted of murder -- and says quite a bit about the lawyers who would use this sort of defense. As the article notes, the actual evidence suggests that video games had nothing to do with the murder, and that it was an old-fashioned robbery attempt.

Filed Under: blame, murder, video games

EA Makes A Bid For Take Two: Soon You'll Be Able To Shoot John Madden In GTA

from the who-will-make-a-video-game-about-a-consolidating-market? dept

It really was only a matter of time after the announced ActiBlizsion merger that someone was going to make a bid for Take Two Interactive, makers of the super popular (if controversial) Grand Theft Auto series of video games. Given Activision and Blizzard are focusing on their own merger, it probably makes sense that industry leader EA has stepped up to make the Take Two bid. EA apparently tried to get Take Two's board to agree to a deal, but when it turned EA's offer down (at a rather large premium), EA decided to go directly to the shareholders in a hostile bid. Take Two claims that the current offer undervalues the company (despite being a 64% premium on the stock price) because it expects the company's stock to rise after it releases the next edition of GTA in the spring. Of course, aren't stock prices supposed to reflect that kind of thing already?

Filed Under: consolidation, video games
Companies: ea, take two

Women Are From Venus, Men Like Video Games

from the boys-and-girls dept

The video game gender debate has been going on for years now, fueled mainly by complaints that the video game industry continues to make games that primarily appeal to males. Perhaps it's not the fault of the video game industry, but a result of a psychological tendency. A new study reports that men's brains are more responsive to video games than women's. According to MRI scans, the zones of the brain associated with reward and addiction are much more active in men's brains when they played a simple video game. Last year, there was an effort to get the American Medical Association to classify video game addiction as an official disorder -- perhaps these folks now have some more empirical evidence to support that claim.

Filed Under: men, video games, women

Freemium Models For Video Games -- Coming To Annoy At A PC Near You?

from the trade-you-virtual-guns-for-virtual-butter dept

As we've noted before, Electronic Arts has already tested giving away games for free and selling virtual items to players for small fees. The business model works (in South Korea, at least) -- and EA's CEO is looking to expand this 'freemium' model to more and more games. According to the New York Times, EA CEO John Riccitiello is ramping up the strategy with the release of 'Battlefront Heroes' which will introduce ads and virtual goods to subsidize the free version of this online game. And Riccitiello is quoted, saying "I've always envied the movie industry when they put a film out in the cinema, then they go to retail with a different business model and then to pay television and then free TV. They have the same content reaching different audiences with different models, and we could never figure out a way to do that. Now with higher broadband penetration, we can use the technology to reach a broader audience."

Hopefully, Riccitiello isn't too envious of the movie industry, and EA has a longer term view for the future of its game production. An easy trap to fall into would be for EA to try to charge for every little thing, hindering the enjoyment of video games with annoying reminders to buy virtual ammo. On the other hand, EA could remember to treat gamers well and charge for its games in way that keeps players happy -- but if 40% margins are the goal, the temptation to squeeze gamers for every microtransaction may prevent EA from playing nicely.

Filed Under: business models, economics, free, video games
Companies: ea

Rock Band Drumming Up New Revenue For The Music Industry

from the rocking-out-on-the-xbox dept

Hit video game, Rock Band, is proving to be a lucrative new revenue stream for the music industry. The game comes with 58 playable songs, but through the XBOX Live Marketplace, gamers can download new songs for around $2 per track. In the eight weeks since the game has been on sale, 2.5 million songs have been downloaded. Indeed, this is a welcome new revenue stream for the music industry, and yet another example of how embracing technology can open up new markets. In the original version of the similar game Guitar Hero, most of the tracks were actually done by a cover band, since the original bands made it prohibitively expensive to use the "real" version (and in some cases, the covered version was considered too close to the original). Now, more bands are finally realizing the benefit of being included in the game, and are now lining up to get their tracks included. That said, only about three new tracks are released each week. So, what is the hold up? If it's a technological issue, it's one thing, but really, there's no good reason to be artificially limiting the number of tracks available to Rock Band players. Having more available tracks increases the fun of the game for all, and for the bands, it's a fantastic promotional opportunity.

Filed Under: music, rock band, video games