Getting into the wrong business?

Grug

Grug

Veteran
I just read this yesterday:

"As newly-released sales figures show, Grand Theft Auto IV has crushed the competition by selling 3.6 million units and earning $310 million in its first day of release, earning Guinness World Records for the Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and the Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours. These records establish GTA IV as the most profitable entertainment release of all-time, far surpassing other video game, film and book releases.

According to Guinness World Records, this is how the game stacks up against the competition:
Fastest-selling video game in 24 hours: Halo 3 at $170 million
Fastest-selling theatrical movie in 24 hours: Spider-Man 3 at $60 million
Fastest-selling book in 24 hours: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows at $220 million"

Wow... just, wow...
 
Just wait until they figure out how to make fully immersive virtual reality games. I mean FULLY, like Matrix type stuff, which will happen sooner than most people think.
 
Lucky for me I also write! My goal is to write and publish a novel this Summer, but I want to write something metaphorical and am having trouble grasping a good concept that is not boring or cliche or waaay too straight forward.
 
Video games have done better than film for quite some time -
back in it's prime the video game industry (i.e. arcades) brought in more than all major sports (NFL, NBA, and MLB) COMBINED.
 
I havent been gaming since coming back to the WEST COAST but love my Battlefield franchise and its spinoff Mods.

Every year I just am amazed at the immersion and technology.
 
Batutta said:
Just wait until they figure out how to make fully immersive virtual reality games. I mean FULLY, like Matrix type stuff, which will happen sooner than most people think.
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I'd rather lucid dream. Much more fun and it would save me at least $60.
 
Most games (atleast ones that rake in profits like those) are in development for 5+ years. During that length of time they have released Spiderman 1, 2 and 3.
 
Well, if your in the film business to make money, you're in the wrong business. The people who make it and make money in the film business are the people who are in it for passion, because their focus is the filmmaking, not the money.
 
I bought a PS3 and GTA IV a few weeks back when it came out. The game is unreal. It took them 3 and 1/2 years to develop and spent around 100M to make it.

I think the first week alone there was 6M copies sold and over 500M in sales.
 
filmguy123 said:
Well, if your in the film business to make money, you're in the wrong business. The people who make it and make money in the film business are the people who are in it for passion, because their focus is the filmmaking, not the money.
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Tell that to Michael Bay. I believe he's in the film business so he can "buy Ferraris." :)
 
Yeah, I got GTA IV and it is amazing. Very impressive but the other thing you guys have to keep in mind, is proportion.

The average movie ticket is about $10 nowadays. A new release of a major game is on average $60, if you count places like the UK which the initial sales reports did, I believe the price was about $80. They also realeased a special edition which was about $89 USD. Add that with the fact that this is a well established franchise with 6 previous record-selling games on consoles since about 1997, the fact that stores have been taking pre-orders for about a year, and all the level of hype and controversy. With all the media coverage, good and bad, that GTA receives, it's bound to attract a bunch of people who are just curious. The game was scheduled for release in Oct of 2007 and about a month before release, was delayed for another 6 months. This only raised the hype level more.

Like Matthew R. Rodwell and Jconners said, if you factor in the development time, cost, and the fact that the game was simultaneously developed in two studios, one in NYC and one in Scotland, each with hundreds of employees and all of the other elements like licensing for over 100 copywritten songs for the in-game radio, the numbers start to balance out and be more proportionate to a great opening week for a film.

Whew...all that being said, I think that Rockstar (the game developers) deserve all of their success as they have released one of those benchmark games that other games will be compared to for years to come.
 
filmguy123 said:
Well, if your in the film business to make money, you're in the wrong business. The people who make it and make money in the film business are the people who are in it for passion, because their focus is the filmmaking, not the money.
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Where'd you get that from? Seems like the people who "make it and make money" are business men to begin with.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Video games have done better than film for quite some time -
back in it's prime the video game industry (i.e. arcades) brought in more than all major sports (NFL, NBA, and MLB) COMBINED.
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Video games cost us $50-$65.
Movies at the theatre costs us about $10.

A lot more profit to be made in video games. (packaging is nothing in those quantities)

I wonder how well Metal Gear Solid 4 will do on 6.12.2008?
i think it'll hit 100 million dollars.
 
Like Matthew R. Rodwell and Jconners said, if you factor in the development time, cost, and the fact that the game was simultaneously developed in two studios, one in NYC and one in Scotland, each with hundreds of employees and all of the other elements like licensing for over 100 copywritten songs for the in-game radio, the numbers start to balance out and be more proportionate to a great opening week for a film.
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Another big cost was the marketing of the game. They hyped the **** out of it and rightfully so. The game is amazing. The attention to detail is ridiculous.

I wonder how well Metal Gear Solid 4 will do on 6.12.2008?
i think it'll hit 100 million dollars.
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Yeah the trailer looks amazing. Wonder what the storyline is going to be, from the trailer it looks somewhat supernatural. Heres a cool demo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TW-y1Ad8ko&feature=related It looks wicked.

I think the new Star Wars game The Force Unleashed looks awesome. Definetly be getting that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkBiYpD3SDc
 
filmguy123 said:
Well, if your in the film business to make money, you're in the wrong business. The people who make it and make money in the film business are the people who are in it for passion, because their focus is the filmmaking, not the money.
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Uh huh.

Film, videos, games, etc...all glomming together in one gray pasty indistinguishable continuum. Working in one practically means working in the rest, already.
 
Gears of War was great, looking forward to the sequel this November, but what I'm really waiting for is the follow up to Oblivion. Best game I ever played. Mass Effect was kind of a let down and only made me realize how right they got Oblivion.
 
The companies do make a lot of money in the game industry, but the employees typically do not. I worked for Sony on the Syphon Filter series and they paid barely enough to make ends meet. The job and work environment was fun for the most part, but the amount of work and effort you have to put in just to get IN to the industry and then get paid much less than the equivalent job in any other industry (like tech), just wasn't worth it IMO.

I can't remember the specific number, but it was something like 90% of Sony's profits came from the SCEA division at the time. Electronics, music, movies and all other industries they were involved in took a backseat to the gaming. We were the rockstars of the corporation. :)
 
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