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Nope, the videogame business does NOT outshine the movie business. Yes,
you may hear that more games sold than movie tickets in a given year,
but what they don't consider is the vast revenue stream fom DVD sales,
TV airings, toys, games, and all the merchandising that goes along with
a film.
Remember, even a 30-year old "catalog title" like The Godfather keeps
chugging along making lots of money from DVD sales, rentals, and TV
airings every year. The same cannot be said for a 30-year old game like
Pong. When you consider the entire vast library that a major studio
like Warner, Paramount, or 20th Century Fox holds, with thousands of
titles making money every year, the movie business FAR OUTSHINES
videogames.
Just as an example, many movies that gross say $80 million at the
box-office then *match* that in DVD sales, putting another $80 million
into the coffer. There is no such rich "after-market" life for
videogames - the bargain bin at EB Games doesn't come close.
And what Lorne Lanning says in the interview about sources of funding
for videogames is very true. There are only a few limited publishers
who can finance a big title, and if they all say 'no', you're hosed.
The film business offers a much broader possibilities for financing.
Plus, I think a game developer ought to own their own IP (intellectual
property), don't you think? Yet from what Lorne is saying, that's just
not true anymore.
I suspect big changes in the videogame business are looming on the
horizon -- this kind of business model isn't going to work for very
long, not if you're scaring off your best and brightest developers. And
anyway, we gamers are going to get very sick of nothing but sequels and
movie-license titles and stop buying games altogether.
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