Video games are closer to movies than ever before in terms of technology and cinematography, so perhaps it isn't a big stretch to see cut-scene collections in theaters.
During a Bank of America Merill Lynch Media, Communications, and Entertainment Conference, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick cited their latest hit, Starcraft II , which has already sold over 3 million copies. The slick movie cut-scenes in the game got a lot of attention, which prompted Kotick and Co. to think about producing full-length feature films . Said Kotick:
"If we were to go to our audience and say we have this great hour-and-a-half of linear video that we would like to make available to you at a $30 price point or $20 price point, you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever. Within the next five years, you are likely to see us do that. Now that may be in partnership with somebody; it may be alone. But there will be a time when we capitalize on the relationship that we have with our audience."
Kotick said Activision is poised to make the leap, as they could "bypass the expenses of standard distribution methods" and after purchasing it, "an extremely high percentage" of company followers would be willing to head to the theater and watch it again. Back in 2001, Sega launched a limited Japanese theatrical run of Shenmue based on various parts of the Dreamcast game. That movie was then included with the Xbox version of Shenmue II . Blizzard has also tried something similar, as they released a three-DVD set boasting cinematics from Starcraft , Starcraft: Brood War , Diablo II and Warcraft III .
Kotick apparently wants to tap into Hollywood; he also spoke about a vision he's had for several years…a vision that has now come true: the audience for video games would broaden to the point where it resembled the fan base of television and films. He mentioned the lip-syncing and facial animations we'll see in the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops , saying it would be a "breakthrough" for the industry. In the end, he said "the ability to have characters with whom players could form an emotional connection – the same way they do with characters in movies – was a 'Holy Grail' in the industry." Well, that sounds about right.
I've always shown cut-scens of games like God of War, Uncharted, etc. to my non-gaming family, and they've always loved it.
Maybe I should start charging them for the service…
LOL If you tried to charge them, they wouldn't pay. It's the one thing Kotick doesn't seem to understand.
Also, if any of us ever want to watch an hour and a half of cut-scenes, all we need to do is go to youtube. Bonus… its free! Not 30 or 20 dollars.
Although I agree 20-30 is too high for movie, I do think people would flock in droves to the theater to see the kind of thing Kotick is talking about.
Booby isn't a gamer, he's a businessman and It's ideas like these that show it. Always looking for ways to cash in rather than create and innovate. I'm all for making money but c'mon. He reminds me of the record producers that turned music, a once sacrade place into an ATM machine.
Plus we already have full cutscene like movies that are better than most video game cut scenes. Pixar has been doing it for years. Square has tried and failed. Can't imagine much better coming from Activision.
Last edited by Jawknee on 9/15/2010 10:18:37 PM
Ass to Mouth machine.
…you called?
ha ha
oh dear
@Jawk
Square failed huge with Spirits Within, but for a straight to DVD movie in Advent Children, they had huge success. They got lots of credit from film festivals around the world, and although sales were only mediocre in NA, the DVD and especially bluray sales in Japan were great! In fact, Square considers Advent Children a success.
But you're right… I don't think it's a good idea for him. Halo had a huge following too, but it's movie/tv episodes haven't been very successful. I just don't think Starcraft or CoD has the emotional or scripted staying power that the FF7 compilation has. Pixar and disney are already producing CG movies, but they're all original titles that typically make crappy versions of video games.
"hour-and-a-half of linear video that we would like to make available to you at a $30 price point or $20 price point,"
So Kotick wants to charge 20 or 30 bucks a ticket? You can shove that idea back up your ass, Kotick.
yeah, who the fack would pay for that? Ten bucks a movie is steep and that's two hours usually.
I think we are witnessing the beginning of Koticks downward spiral into delusional madness. I can't see any reason why a mentally sound person would think this is a good idea.
Maybe he's only considering disc and download methods of content distribution. Of course a theater ticket shouldn't cost that much, but a game on a disc is 60 bucks. Then again, there's nothing interactive about a cutscene to warrant such a lofty price tag.
@B-Rad,
Thatâs what I thought at first He must be talking about DVD/BR sales. But then he talks about the ââ¦biggest opening weekend of any film ever.â
That is movie speak for theatrical releases. Movie studios donât refer to DVD/BR sales that way.
I agree with Kangasfwa on this. Kotick is insane if he thinks people will pay $20-$30 for a movie ticket to watch his cut scenes.
People (well, a few) pay $10+ for a movie ticket and that's insane given that you can buy the movie for about that much or rent it for half as much and have as many people watch it as you want. There are certainly people foolish enough to pay $20+.
Of course, the skyrocketing prices and plummeting quality are why the movie theater industry is soon to go the way of the dodo.
I don't go to the movies unless its the day time on a Monday or Tuesday to get in for $5. And even then I usually wait for stuff to release on DVD and just torrent it. Unless its something awesome with good special effects I rent the blu ray.
I'm sorry, he wants to make a movie out of an hour and a half of video game cutscenes, put it in theaters, and charge $20 to $30?
WTF?
What do you mean "beginning"? The only time this guy is ever in headlines is for shooting his mouth off.
That is the most retarded thing I've ever heard, you would hardly be able to make sense of the story without all the in between stuff. It would just be something shiny up there on the screen… oh wait that's what Hollywood is… crap.
No sale Kotex! May your games be pirated and your job be lost.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 9/15/2010 10:20:42 PM
Don't worry, they will be by his so-called supporters on the Xbox 360 who only like that console since it's a haven for piracy.
I agree with everybody here. Bobby is again showing everybody that he only cares about money and nothing else. If he cared about the games and playing them, he wouldn't be kissing Microsoft's butt all day and taking their millions.
BTW, that jerk who rips Ben for no reason is e-begging. Who's looking desperate now?
I don't like that look on his face when he talks about money or capitalizing on the relationship with his audience. What does he mean by calling customers an audience? Sounds like he's trying to put on a show or something. If he's trying to be a comedian, he's not funny.
His SE style project might not bode well for Activision. A failure might humble him a little.
From what I've read, the failure of FF: Spirits Within put SquareSoft deep into the red. It was one of the big reasons they merged with Enix soon after (Enix had plenty of cash at the time).
Unless Activision loses tens of millions on this project, Kotick probably wouldn't be humbled by a loss. Hell, even if Activision sees heavy losses from the movie project Kotick would likely just blame the movie makers or brush it off as a failed experiment. Activision's shareholders /might/ rise up against him (in the event), but I doubt they would want him thrown out.
Last edited by Kangasfwa on 9/15/2010 10:38:31 PM
This is got to be one of, if not the stupidest idea that dumb hack has ever had.
Let me be so bold as to re-phrase Boobie's sentence the way I think he really want's it……
"we capitalize on the relationship that we have with our audience's by bending right them over all of our cash-cow machines, and all without the extra expenditure, or messy usage of Vaseline.
And of course his idea of making hour & 1/2 of cut-scenes will probably be taking content away from the game, so he can have his instantly made $30 DLC movies
What a real Kotex you are, Boobie!!!!
Last edited by BikerSaint on 9/15/2010 10:34:01 PM
I wonder what Xbots think of this?
They want to know when and where they can throw their money at a showing of all the Halo cut scenes.
I can just see the movie promotions now. "Free Kotick catheters with each soft drink purchase. You'll never have to miss a moment of the action".
@World
Not their money, their parents money.
A Halo cutscenes movie would get a PG rating. I've always thought the scripts for Halo are on the level of George Lucas-penned Star Wars movies.
A swear word here or there wouldn't hurt y'know.
They're already salivating at the idea of a Halo movie made this way.
"But there will be a time when we capitalize on the relationship that we have with our audience."
Uh hello, Dummy, there's these games called RPGs in which you connect with the characters on a far deeper level than you do in TV and movies.
Too bad the cutscenes are already on youtube. The best way they can sell movies, like the starcraft cutscenes is if they actually create a new one, maybe a CGI movie?
Last edited by TheCrazyMerc on 9/15/2010 10:39:12 PM
Ben you chose that pic on purpose didnt you? i mean he just looks like a giant d-bag in that pic.
if i go and pull up all the cut scenes from any of my games, most jump all over and wont make a cohesive story. maybe he meant that 20 30 thing about like a blueray. i dont know how he would even convince movie theaters they all have to raise the price to that. it sounds like he has figured out that he can rip off gamers he wants to move onto the general population and do it in movie theaters.
never before have i wanted anyone to fail at something as much as i want this guy to fail at everything.
"Square has tried and failed."
Not witih FF7:AC with over 10 million dvd, blu ray and umd sold…..
anyhow Kotick idea isn't new, but he's obviously trying to cash-in the success Square Enix(FF7:AC), Namco(Tales of Visperia) and Capcom(Resident Evil:4D Executor, Resident Evil:Degeneration) had.
Square did try and fail with Final Fantasy: Spirits Within. They lost millions on that project.
Xenosaga did this with it's cutscene from Episode 1, and they turned around and made a multi-season anime out of the game too.
None of those movies were released in theaters. Square tried with Spirits Within and lost millions. They had to close their Hawaii studio and had to merge with Enix to save their company.
So yes, they failed.
karma will get his ass
or LV will.
::munch:: ::munch::
So, who is this Boobie Crotchik anyway?
Last edited by swapnilgyani on 9/15/2010 11:02:22 PM
swapnilgyani,
He's the a-hole who is CEO of Anti-vision(Activision), and who is running the company into the ground with his greedy thirst for more & more cash.
And he's not a gamer, but he loves to belittle the gaming world in almost all of his business speeches.
didn't Square Enix allready try this and fail misrerably?
Seems like Bobbie wants to overcharge for something else. I mean it's a fair idea to string cut scenes together as a low budget animated feature, but $30? Are you kidding me? The whole game costs $60, who in their right mind would lay down $30 for the cut scenes from a game?
That said, I do have a DVD which assembles the cutscenes from Xenosaga Episode 1 into a continuous feature. But it didn't cost $30, and I don't see anyone but the most hardcore Xenosaga fan buying into it. I got mine in a bundle with an auction.
Got mine off Ebay a few years ago. It's a great DVD but unless you've played the game, you'll miss a lot of the story elements. Still it's great to be able to skip to whatever cutscene you want to watch without having resort to loading up savepoints and/or playing through the game to get to them again. Wish the anime didn't change up some of the events that originally happened in the game.
I downloaded all the FMV/CGI/Cutscenes from FFVII through FFXII a few years back. It's incredible how far the series has come graphically just in terms of the CGI.
ND also did this with the Jak And Daxter series, though IIRC for some reason you couldn't just buy it on DVD.
In that pic, kotex looks like he's really been eating high off the hog there.
Hmmm, he's a fat Alfred E. Newman…
"What, me worry"????
I LOVE that pic of Kotick. It really brings out his "maniacal madman in charge of an evil empire" look.
Meh…I'm not crazy about his idea. Blizzard has always produced top notch cut-scenes, but I certainly don't see myself helping him get "the biggest opening weekend of any film ever" by paying his inflated price of $30 for a ticket.
This is how he thinks. Apparently he focuses on franchises that "have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million franchises"(actual quote). That may have been a joke but you know what they say about hidden truths.