Videos Games And Hollywood: A Rivalry, or In Sync
It quietly crept up on everybody, but the relationship between good old Hollywood and the relatively recent video games industry is now something of a hot topic for entertainment industry analysts. Certainly, the two giants have been ebbing and flowing from one another in recent years, or have they? From the outsider’s perspective, it looks like most of the courting has been from Hollywood, who have been serenading the video game industry for a number of years. But like everything else in life, it’s not so simple.
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The Numbers
Take a look at the biggest entertainment industries in the world and you might be surprised to learn that it is the video game industry that brings in the most cash. But this is only surprising to those who haven’t been paying attention: movies and music exist in plain sight; video games are behind closed doors and easy to overlook if you don’t play them yourself. The industry is worth a staggering $23.5 billion in the US alone, thanks to a generation of people who played video games when they were young now producing them themselves.
From Small to Big Screen
The overwhelming success of video games – along with captivating characters and creative plot lines – meant it was only a matter of time before Hollywood took notice. In recent times, we’d had the video game favorites Warcraft, Need for Speed and Assassin’s Creed all given the big screen treatment, with mixed results. Despite the generally poor reviews, Hollywood is determined to keep trying to get the formula right, with Tomb Raider being given another airing and Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid, and The Division all in the pipeline.
Video Game Scripts
Given the attention Hollywood is paying to the video game industry, you might think this love affair is all one way traffic. But it’s not: the video game industry takes from Hollywood all the time. Head to Unibet casino, for example, and you’ll see games based on Beauty and the Beast and King Kong, two films that were very much made in Hollywood. The truth is that video games have always taken from movies. The most popular video games are turned into movies by Hollywood because they’re essentially already movies to begin with. The latest video games pay more of a homage (in plot and characters) to Hollywood classics than they do Space Invaders, don’t they?
Who Will Win The War?
If there is a war between Hollywood and the video games industry (and there’s not really, but we can all see there’s a friendly rivalry), then who will eventually end up coming out on top? While Hollywood movies are here to stay, they face challenges from Netflix and the like. It’s hard to look past video games, because that industry has really only just got going. With 3D technology and the like on their way, we could be looking at a dominant era for the industry. In any case, it’s best not to overthink the two industries – so long as they’re keeping consumers happy, everyone wins.