playing games
Posted by Andrew on Wednesday Jul 22, 2009 Under Uncategorized
The games industry and the film industry are converging, they say. Games make an estimated 44 billion a year. The film industry as it exists at the moment is declining, i hear. I can’t find the figures for 2009, but the money made in film is significantly less than is made by games- in the region of 6-7 billion as far as i can tell.
so what happens when the gamers start paying for movies?
I’m excited by the prospect. The Nintendo Wii brought the peripheral studies that were going on in Haptics to the world. MIT Media Lab were doing work on this years ago, but always made it sound so complicated- it was no fun. Interactivity and new user interfaces on the Wii have changed the way people do things, its brought them into the game. Its nerdy stuff simplified.
The reason I’m interested in this is because I wonder about the possibilities of new forms of filmmaking and film viewing using the games channel rather than the film channel to produce and develop your work. What i mean is- would the games industry fund a new model of the film production industry?
In the old days when people used to go to the cinema for new experiences and used to pay for the privilege, filmmakers were given money to experiment and make compelling work. Can this model be translated to the gamers? Surely the games industry have a few million to spare to put into the pockets of aspiring filmmakers looking for new avenues of experimentation and development. Dare i say it- to allow them to experiment and produce ART?
Games are going to need better stories, better direction, better production. Is it just a question of a change of paradigm for filmmakers? For me?
