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Did you know that between 2003 and 2007 the videogames industry grew by a whopping 40%, meanwhile other forms of entertainment such as TV, cinema and music dropped in popularity? Activision-Blizzard exec Mike Griffith also made a showing at last week's CES, crowing about an industry that he and his company are heading towards the top of. He said to a crowd there that videogames would "eclipse" "movies, recorded music and TV" as forms of entertainment in the future. He claimed that media such as films and music were passive, and that games are moving ever closer to becoming "a legitimate story-telling medium that rivals feature films."
Mr Griffith said social gaming, more interactivity and better technology would help gaming dominate the entertainment landscape in future.
He said: "Movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors."
"Video games are poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the decade ahead," he said.
Gamers will spend longer with James Bond than moviegoers
The success of Guitar Hero, said Mr Griffith, showed how influential gaming had become on many other entertainment sectors.
He quoted Nielsen SoundScan data which showed that artists whose music featured on Guitar Hero had seen a rise in download sales of 15-843%.
The game had proved so popular that some bands, such as Metallica and Aerosmith, were bringing out a version of the game that only features their music.
"Music has a history of evolving through technology and we are at the beginning of the latest chapter in that story," he said.
"The moviegoer is passive whereas the gamer is active and part of the game itself," he said, adding that anyone who played QoS would spend more than 50 hours in the company of James Bond compared to only 106 minutes if they watched the movie.
The communities growing up around titles such as Guitar Hero World Tour also showed how entertainment was changing, he said.
Which all seems true, except that it's coming from someone who stands to make a lot of money off of just that happening. Still, for all of the bluster of Activision-Blizzard's hotshots, they've got a few of the most popular franchises in gaming behind them -- Blizzard (of course), the Call of Duty franchise, and Guitar Hero, which has made over a billion dollars for Activision. Especially in a time of declining CD sales, Griffith's words ring truer than ever.
But let's not forget, of course, that you can't have great stories without great storytellers, and the folks at Blizzard are definitely that. For all of Activision's bragging, they can't forget that these franchises, all of them, came from strong and talented studios -- Call of Duty was crafted by Infinity Ward, Guitar Hero by Harmonix, and obviously all of Blizzard's properties were put together by the company formerly known as Silicon and Synapse. Griffith can brag that his media is taking over the world, but we hope Activision doesn't forget who helped them get there. Hope it can come quick, are you waiting for it?
