Games, movies measure up: who's the biggest?

Games, movies measure up: who's the biggest?
Me! Me! No, me!
By Mike Smith

A new report from UK-based retail analysts Verdict would have us believe that sales of video games and related products are set to outpace music and video takings by an impressive-sounding 4.6 billion pounds ($7.3 billion) this year -- but how do top-selling movies and video games rack up in on the global stage?

Critically-acclaimed thriller The Dark Knight ranks at the top of the movie charts for the year so far, ushering close on a billion dollars through box office tills around the world. Set that against Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, so far 2008's best-selling video game, and it's a tight race. Although GTA passed the half-billion mark in just a week, a feat that took Dark Knight much longer, video games just don't have the staying power of a great movie. GTA ought to finish out the year within striking distance of Dark Knight, but it's going to be a close-run race.

Those two are outliers, of course -- but three other 2008 movies have already topped the $500 million mark at the world's box offices thus far, and it's only the cream of the video-game crop that can hit those heights. Wii Fit certainly did, with its $90 price-tag (and it's already tipped to outsell GTA by the end of the year). The year's other top sellers, EA's Madden 09, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii are all in with a chance, but it's by no means a shoe-in.

But as with many of these comparisons, the outcome all depends on how you slice it. GTA's debut was a mammoth achievement, but for every $60 paid by gamers for Grand Theft Auto, four movie-goers could have seen Dark Knight, and they'd still have had money for popcorn. Conversely, although Dark Knight certainly ran long, it's nothing next to the 20 or 30 hours of entertainment an average gamer might get out of Grand Theft Auto.

Box office counts also don't give us a great impression of the overall power of a movie's economic impact. They don't include DVD sales, for one thing: Dark Knight's DVD and Blu-Ray versions will be in stores in December, and you can bet they're going to be turning up under a great many trees this holiday season. Dark Knight will still be shifting boxes long after gamers, with their notoriously short attention spans, have abandoned GTA for the next big thing.

But there's one four-year-old video game that still dwarfs the best the movie industry has to offer: World of Warcraft. With over 11 million subscribers, its maker Blizzard surely grosses well over $1 billion annually just for keeping the game ticking over -- and that's before you take into account the doubtless impressive sales figures its newest expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, will generate. Those are figures that would make even George Lucas raise his eyebrows.

Gerald Lacey
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