Video Games surpass movies & music in a fraction of the time, is GTA IV commentary true?
By Carl Borrowman
Playing GTA IV on the XBox 360 the other day, I happened to overhear the radio saying video games are bad for you, and that pretty much anything that threatens the movie industry and Hollywood is bad for you.
Not stopping there, the commentary went on to say that if it hasn’t been proven video games and other threats to the movie industry are bad for you, they will prove it through studies funded by the movie industry…
I had to laugh, but then I did a double take. No, not that Hollywood or the MIAA is actually funding or encouraging these studies directly (they might be, who knows), but that when it comes to video games in general, the majority of commentary or “news” conveniently ignores film, music, other media, and basic parenting skills.
Why would that be? Is it because the movie industry is more closely tied with these other forms of media and has a better money making history with them? Is it because both movies and music have been seeing a loss in sales over the last few years? Or is it simply that violent video games in general are a more convenient scapegoat for some of the world’s ills? Probably none of these, but rather the fact that video games just happen to be the newest form of media that can be blamed, just as music and the film industry was in the past.
While video games have taken the media sales market by storm when compared to music and movie growth in sales, there are many more likely reasons for the recent drops in the other two markets. For one, many were disenchanted with DRM and many ways were found around it, especially on the internet. Now that the MIAA and RIAA have both realized their own mistakes is misjudging how much they could profit off of the public, they have finally started to drop DRM and charge decent prices for DRM free MP3’s on places like Amazon and other major retailers.
Once upon a time, people could only listen to live performances of musicians, and their “film” were plays and drama in the theater, but since the beginning of the recording industry, there has been just a little bit of manipulation and exploitation of consumers and artists/actors/etc., with a fair share of some quality products. There were still paid performances in the old days, but some music and shows were free. While that day may come again (okay it’s already here, kind of, if you don’t count advertising), the new interesting question is, how many times will consumers pay for the same product in different formats?
From records to tape to cd to mp3’s, and films to cassettes to dvd’s to downloads, the answer seems to be clear: as many times as there are significant improvements in the quality and accessibility of the product itself. Perhaps one day music and movies can be made for their own sake and all will be “free” (do we really want that?), until then, people need to make a living. While a few artists or actors (and sports players/others) live in obvious excess, and the recording industries are profit driven, the bottom line is these people only make money because of what the majority of consumers value and are willing to pay for.
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