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games or films more profitable?

Discussion in 'General' started by sotu1, 16 Jun 2008.

  1. sotu1

    sotu1 Ex-Modder

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  2. Red Eye

    Red Eye Minimodder

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    I guess theres loads of factors to consider. Immediately, I think of the cost of an individual unit of a film compared to a video game. A single movie sale would cost approximately £5-9 whereas a single unit of the GTA game would cost around £40. So although the Titanic movie didn't make an huge amount of money next to GTA, more people would'v went to see it to get to that figure.

    And then theres of course there are margins to consider.

    Does anyone know how much is cost to make the GTA4 game and Titanic???
     
  3. M4RTIN

    M4RTIN What's a Dremel?

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    distribution of films to cinemas has to be cheaper too, you only have to make a few thousand reels and get them shipped out to a cinema, every game sold needs a disk pressed, a box made, the sleeve and manual printed, then all these millions of cases need to be shipped out to the stores.
     
  4. modgodtanvir

    modgodtanvir Prepare - for Mortal Bumbat!

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    Well I suppose films must have a much larger target market than gaming. Literally everyone watches the odd film, though I could think of large groups of people who don't play games.

    I can imagine a film to cost a colossal amount of money because as well as a room full of polygon loving geeks, and a special effects package (which is really all you need for a game), you will also need to hire and pay for actors, and their maintenance, editing, choreography, filming studio space, any outdoor scenes must cost a bundle. I wonder how much Die Hard 4.0 cost to make...

    Also, I suppose as a result of the larger pirate markets, films are pirated more frequently, and are essentially, as good as the original once the DVD rip is out. But games, though just as easily pirated, might be inferior products to the bought one, and often online play is disabled.

    The thing that you buy on Play.com, is essentially the same for both medium - a DVD full of data and a box with an insert and a cover - though films do make a massive chunk of revenue at the box office. Its a tough question. Can anyone get any stats?
     
  5. supermonkey

    supermonkey Deal with it

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    If I had to guess, without any numbers to back it up, I would vote for movies making more money in the long run. Hollywood's business model has changed in recent years. The big studios no longer expect to turn a profit at the box office. In today's market, movies are over-hyped to bring in a big surge of money at the release, but the real profits are earned in DVD sales and overseas releases. Looking into it a little more, while the first chart on that page lists Titanic's US box-office earnings as $600 million, worldwide, Titanic took in an estimated additional $1.8 billion. Now, add those numbers to DVD sales, merchandising, etc., and you begin to see why James Cameron is a very happy man.

    The other thing to consider is production cost. The bigger the budget, the bigger the chunk off the bottom line. However, if the movie is a success, that big chunk won't seem as big, relatively. Take The Blair Witch Project, for example. That movie cost $60,000 to make, but took in over $250 million worldwide; that's over 4,000% return on investment from box office receipts alone.

    If I had to choose between movies or games, I would go with movies. As long as it doesn't star Keanu Reeves, that is.

    -monkey
     
  6. sotu1

    sotu1 Ex-Modder

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    http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/traverstake/2008/06/is-grand-theft-auto-iv-actuall.php

    "a cost that tickled $100 million"

    http://www.blurtit.com/q831532.html

    titanic near $250 million, but total profits (as rightly pointed out) were in excess of 1.8 billion worldwide.

    granted GTA is still expecting a PC release (and probably a PSP release, an anthology release, a special edition release blah blah...) it looks like films are currently still more profitable. do you reckon it will stay this way or will games edge toward a takeover in profits?
     
  7. supermonkey

    supermonkey Deal with it

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    Personally, I think films will keep the edge for quite a while. In my opinion films have a much broader appeal, while games seem to have a narrower market in comparison. Consider the sheer power of new moms and dads buying up all the kids movies they can find for their young ones.

    -monkey
     
  8. MikeTitan

    MikeTitan Ling Ling: 273 Battle Points

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    Movies hands down. Games are likely going to catch up to some lower-mid budget movies now in terms of costs, that and the fact games are more expensive to make on the 'dvd' side of things, better boxes, usually more discs, plus the extra crap. As well, games sell considerably less then movies/dvd's just due to the amount of people experiencing them. If you look at GTA, it costs about 60 bucks a pop, 8,333,333 Million people have it or purchased it during that time. However if you take a look at a movie, say Iron made what 98mil it's first weekend? take $9 bucks as an average ticket cost you're looking at: 10.8 million people who saw it in theaters, not including the amount of people who will purchase it on dvd for 15-20 bucks. Well say 17.5, and only 1/10 of the people actually buy it on DVD, that's an Easy 171.5 Million. Not including the merchandising of course.

    Movies just have a far better model. Unfortunately, not really possible to mimic for games. Also, movies have are a far more 'reusable' source of entertainment then MOST games. Take Bioshock or Assassin's Creed, you can only play it really a few times (usually) and get enjoyment out of it. However for 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of the game, you can get a DVD which will last far longer as entertainment. Even if you only watch it 1-3 times a year. Just a better value.
     
  9. dragontail

    dragontail 5bet Bluffer

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    How much is Blizzard making off WoW?
     
  10. supermonkey

    supermonkey Deal with it

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    A lot. How much is Hustler making every time one if its starlets bares all on screen?

    Hint: The porn industry makes more money than Hollywood.

    -monkey
     
  11. sotu1

    sotu1 Ex-Modder

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    is that true?
     

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