April 21st, 2008

The cultural impact of GTAIV (and other Video Games)

Published at 3:09 AM PST

With GTAIV coming out in less then 10 days, everyone is in hype of the game, no one doesn't know about it, unless your like 100 years old and can't remember anything or living on the Space Station. People are scared of the game, according to EA CEO, John Riccitello and variety.com. Both article talk about how GTAIV will affect DVD sales and movie premires.

"The buzz in Hollywood, which I heard from some Hollywood folks . . . is people are worried whether Iron Man the movie is going to get killed by Grand Theft Auto the game," says, John Riccitello, chief executive of Electronic Arts, the world's biggest video game publisher(?).

Someone tell me this, why does he care so much? He thinks that he's still getting Take-Two, but still he is right.

Last summer, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" broke all box office records, with a $404 million worldwide haul in its first six days, roughly the same amount expected for "GTA IV." But while "Pirates" was only three hours out of someone's life at an average price of about $7, "GTA IV" is a $60 investment that provides dozens, if not hundreds of hours of content. That's money and time that has to come from somewhere else.

And this statement is also correct, while big blockbuster movies are taking a year to be made, come out in big massive launch parties on the banks of Sydney Harbour, and last for 3 hours, if that. Video games are taking three years to make, have people waiting on lines overnight (all over the world), and last for weeks on end (good games at least).

The main demographic for GTAIV is going to be the 18-25 range, just Halo 3 was last year. When Halo came out on the XBox 360, television ratings dropped 3% in that age range, making shows like Family Guy lose most of it's ratings. The week that GTAIV comes out, Iron Man comes out as well, both being in the 18-25 demographic, Marvel Studios (who brought Iron Man to the screen) is worried that it's movie will get overshadowed by a game, and with Iron Man being the first of the Summer Blockbusters, GTAIV could possibly make Hollywood lose money.

Now, movie executives are placing major DVD's that are coming out in different weeks then major video games, of that age range. GTAIV is no worries (27 Dresses,The Golden Compass and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, are coming out the week of GTAIV), but in the future they'll have to look at Video Games that are coming out and make sure that they don't hurt the sale of Movie Tickets and DVD's (or Blu-Ray, as the future progresses).

Source A: Riccitiello's Statement on GTAIV

Source B: GTAIV's impact on Movies and other media