FutureWire Comments
That $10-billion figure has been tossed around since at least last year (and probably longer than that):
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/25719
So it's not news. I also recall some sort of breakdown of that figure for the industry, which puts a question mark to it. Unfortunately, I can't locate a source on that at the moment.
The figures looked at are Hollywood's U.S. box office numbers. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the movie industry knows that that's hardly the whole pie. American box office accounts for about 20 percent of an average movie's take. DVDs, overseas markets and dozens of other revenue streams rake in a bunch more cash than a comparable videogame.
What's more, even if gaming isn't complete a fringe pursuit anymore, it's nowhere near mainstream. Movies are tons more accessible: Walk into a movie theater and start watching (and there are a lot more theaters out there than there are arcades, or consoles in the home). Movies are also an inherently pass
(continued from above, sorry about the HaloScan truncation)
What's more, even if gaming isn't complete a fringe pursuit anymore, it's nowhere near mainstream. Movies are tons more accessible: Walk into a movie theater and start watching (and there are a lot more theaters out there than there are arcades, or consoles in the home). Movies are also an inherently passive medium, making them that much easier to take in than games.
Simply put, gaming is not surpassing film.
There's been some controversy, even on Slashdot, about the revenue figure for movies. But even the fact that games have surpassed domestic box office is significant.
Commenting by HaloScan
