20 Comments Add your own

• 1. Joe Rosemeyer  |  May 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

  Um, video games are also more expensive than going to see a movie.

  Comparative audience size? I’d put GTA at about 10 percent of Spider-Man 3. That’s not bad, but the revenue comparison is a little misleading.

• 2. Charles  |  May 7th, 2008 at 10:05 pm

  Average price of a movie ticket, as rated by NATO, is $6.88.
  GTA, on Amazon.com, cost $60.

  $500,000,000 divided by 60 = 8,333,333. So about 8.3 million people bought GTA4.

  Iron Man made, well, let’s just round down to $1 million, shall we?
  $1,000,000 divided by $6.88 equals 145,348 tickets sold.

  Spider-Man 3’s total gross, 381,600,000 divided by $6.88, is 55,465,116. So about 55 million people saw Spider-Man 3.

  Those aren’t bad numbers, for either camp. And for a video game, GTA4’s numbers are REALLY good. But the price for products make the two mediums incomparable. (Even though I just did.) Plus, there’s a huge difference between a market for a $7 movie and a $60 game (plus $300+ for console).

• 3. Michael Gay  |  May 8th, 2008 at 5:18 am

  Good points Joe and Charles. I hadn’t really planned to compare the number of people with my attempt to provide context, but rather the impact on the industry. $500 million is more than Spider-Man made in the opening. In terms of revenue for the companies, money is money, I think?

• 4. Jason  |  May 8th, 2008 at 5:26 am

  Another consideration could be development costs. I read somewhere that GTA IV cost something like $100 million to produce, which is a lot, but less than some of the big Hollywood blockbusters.

  I would be interested in knowing (too lazy to look myself) what the total market haul was for Spiderman 3, taking into account not only box office, but home video, PPV, downloads, etc.

• 5. Hussman  |  May 8th, 2008 at 6:01 am

  Jason brought up my points. Spiderman 3 clearly has made buckloads more cash when you take into account DVD sales, merchandising (including video game sales - will there be a GTA IV movie? Perhaps).

  Also, Charels got his math wrong. Iron Man made 105 million, not 1 million. 105 mil / 6.88 = 15, 261,627 tickets sold.

  And I will never go as far as to say that video game will *replace* movies, but they certainly will become an “on par” choice.

• 6. tdc  |  May 8th, 2008 at 6:15 am

  anyone account for the fact that a game gets played over and over again (sometimes for hours at a sitting) vs. a movie that might be watched twice?

  if the “audience” is busy playing any game console they won’t be going to the movies, watching tv, etc.

• 7. Joe Rosemeyer  |  May 8th, 2008 at 6:59 am

  Charles, Iron Man made $100 million, not $1 million… and suddenly, I’ve made this thread way too nerdy.

• 8. Contrarian  |  May 8th, 2008 at 7:00 am

  ..and books are archaic things that no one will ever buy again once they own a computer.

  …and no one will ever watch TV again, either, so stop making those 60″ HD’s, ’cause they won’t sell.

  Hey, if people spend hours at their game console, then they won’t be using the Internets, so gaming could represent the end of the online world, too.

• 9. Michael Gay  |  May 8th, 2008 at 7:05 am

  tdc, excellent point. I bet a consumer is engaged with GTA for many, many hours - even days (weeks if they get into multiplayer online gaming). A movie lasts 1.5 hours (unless the director doesn’t like to edit, then it’s an epic several hours) haha

• 10. tdc  |  May 8th, 2008 at 8:04 am

  thanks, mg.

  i’ll have a retort for contrarian in awhile (w/ link), but need to take this call.

  however, in the meantime, please check out huffingtonpost for a link to a story on the expected auction price of israel(dotcom).

• 11. tdc  |  May 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am

  In reading all of the previous posts, there seems to me to be an emerging consensus. It is that video games are very big players in the battle for people’s attention and they will only get stronger. Also that Hollywood will be impacted, as will tv (cable, satellite and ota). But I think one needs to be careful when using the word “replace”. That means that the old technology in each case goes away. The above mentioned technologies may not go away, they may just command a smaller part of the attention pie. It also seems to me that with the pie (leisure time and money) growing there will be more niches, which those old technologies may become…..decent sized niches though.

• 12. Chris  |  May 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am

  Sorry, put the wrong name in the name box.

  In reading all of the previous posts, there seems to me to be an emerging consensus. It is that video games are very big players in the battle for people’s attention and they will only get stronger. Also that Hollywood will be impacted, as will tv (cable, satellite and ota). But I think one needs to be careful when using the word “replace”. That means that the old technology in each case goes away. The above mentioned technologies may not go away, they may just command a smaller part of the attention pie. It also seems to me that with the pie (leisure time and money) growing there will be more niches, which those old technologies may become…..decent sized niches though.

• 13. Rob  |  May 8th, 2008 at 9:05 am

  Personally, I love movies and video games in equal measure, and while I’ve probably spent hundreds of dollars on movies I’ve spent thousands on games, computers, hardware upgrades and internet service.

  Something not added to the mix so far: How many game consoles were purchased during the same period of time?I had a number of friends buy an XBOX when Vice City came out, I purchased one when San Andreas came out, and there was a significant push for the 360 when HALO 3 came out. You could probably factor in Internet, XBOX Live and peripheral upgrade costs into the mix as well.

  When it comes to movies, the peripheral costs include parking, popcorn and pop and if you really like the movie, purchase it on DVD a few months later.

  Another thing to consider is in addition to game consoles sold is the amount of time spent playing the game vs. watching the movie. An average movie lasts an hour and a half to two hours. So an average movie ticket costs $6.88 for two hours of entertainment and the game costs $60. The game - not including multiplayer online - might take 20 - 30 hours of gameplay to complete, but lets be conservative and say 20 hours, which would be compared to watching a two hour movie 10 times. Will the average movie watcher go to a theater for the same movie 10 times? Probably not. Will the average game player play a game more than 20 hours? Definitely.

  While an individual movie might be great for a few hours of entertainment, I would say there’s a more significant amount of time - and money in the long run when you factor in consoles, Internet and peripheral costs - being spent on the gaming industry.

• 14. Madison May  |  May 8th, 2008 at 9:50 am

  I don’t think that it will ever go away! Just like books will never go away, music will never go away, and movies will never go away. Thinks might change and adapt but I doubt things as big as those will ever be outdated, unless we come up with wifi for our brains.

• 15. tdc  |  May 8th, 2008 at 10:12 am

  “…if people spend hours at their game console, then they won’t be using the internets…”

  au contraire, contrarian.

  not being a gamer i’ll out on a thin limb here, but i do understand more and more of these games are online-based, allowing players to compete with others the world over… kinda like a social network.

  and this is not just kids taking to the joysticks either… click tdc to watch some middle age tv folks having a rockin’ good time w/ a version guitar hero.

  btw- the young female vocalist’s voice is REALLY that good.

  you think she should take a stab at idol?

• 16. Contrarian  |  May 8th, 2008 at 10:24 am

  You’re out of your league on this one, tdc.

  Linking one’s console to an online community is NOT the same thing as “using the internet.”

  So if gamers are going to forsake all other entertainment for their passion, then they won’t be visiting websites, either.

  By the way, if people can’t understand why someone might want to watch a well-crafted story on film–and would pass on that in order to play a game (which is not the same thing at all)–then we have a problem here.

• 17. tdc  |  May 8th, 2008 at 11:33 am

  out of my league?

  well, that never stopped me before.

  matter of fact, my son and i built (from scratch) a pair of ddr pads identical to the one i’ve linked to above.

  while he might have bought a set for far less than we put into them, we wouldn’t have been able to spend that sort of quality time together… it’s a long way from the old pine wood derby days.

  the pads are currently a household item at The University of Chicago where in two years of use the only damage was a crushed controller (stepped on) which we cut-out and replaced. otherwise, i’m told they work near flawless.

  definitely out of my league.

• 18. Rob  |  May 8th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

  TDC:

  “i do understand more and more of these games are online-based, allowing players to compete with others the world over… kinda like a social network.”

  Spot on. MMOGs combine the platform (console, PC), game software and the means of distribution (internet) into social networks that bring together team play and individual achievement, competition and cooperation.

• 19. Anonymous  |  May 9th, 2008 at 1:50 am

  Bicycles. Stereo and video gear usually needing repair SOMEWHERE. This computer.

  Why videogames? Might I forego sleep completely?

• 20. Joe - fourhman.com  |  May 9th, 2008 at 12:19 pm

  “By the way, if people can’t understand why someone might want to watch a well-crafted story on film–and would pass on that in order to play a game (which is not the same thing at all)–then we have a problem here.”

  Wait, which camp are you maligning here? Your message is unclear to me.

  Because well-crafted stories do exist in games, and they become all the more impacting because you’re personally experiencing it. To suggest otherwise only shows someone who hasn’t picked up a controller since Donkey Kong.

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