Paul Hyman writes an excellent game industry column for the Hollywood Reporter that I follow each week. This week, he interviewed me to pick clean my thoughts on why most Hollywood movies fail to make good games. (In case that link doesn't contain my interview, you can click here to go directly to it.)
In 1976 Warner Bros. bought Atari, with a keen eye for the nerd guy. But while Warner saw the big picture, they didn't score box office-like success and eventually sold Atari, giving up on games. Since then, Hollywood has ventured many times into the game industry's lair, and most often retreated with deep scars.
Hollywood tells stories, often with spectacle. But games don't rely on stories. And most of the Hollywood's greatest stories cannot make a great game, such as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, Titanic, Godfather, The Unforgiven, Kramer Verses Kramer, Citizen Kane, Jaws, To Kill a Mockingbird, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, It's a Wonderful Life, and E.T.
Get the picture?
Well, Hollywood sure doesn't.
The game industry uses stories like window dressing, not as the Main Thing. To win in the game industry you need to innovate in either tech, design (gameplay) or art, otherwise, you're a copycat and a sure failure. Hollywood can be successful without worrying about innovations in these three areas, and so these critical areas are not of paramount importance to them. Quite simply, Hollywood firmly -- and mistakenly -- believes that people love their stories and actors in any medium.
But what do I know! That's why I defer to The Man...
"Seemingly, movies and games are similar, but they are poles apart. I do not think anyone can come up with good project simply by converting a scenario of a good movie to a game, and vice versa."
-- Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo Power, April 2002
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