Why Hollywood Is Turning To Video Games

Hollywood studios have shown a sudden interest in games in the past couple of years with films such as Adam Sandler’s 'Pixels' and Disney’s 'Wreck-It Ralph' designed to appeal to gamers both past and present.

Next year we will see games mount an all-out assault on Hollywood, with big studios throwing their weight (and cash) behind game-inspired titles such as 'Warcraft', 'Assassin’s Creed' and 'Angry Birds'.

But why is Hollywood turning to video games for box office success?

Gamers are already engaged

This year, an academic study showed that gamers have just as deep an emotional attachment to their favourite titles as cinema fans. In a study of gamers response to games, Penn State researchers found that gamers felty they gained ‘insight’ from playing games. They revealed that their research sugested that "contrary to stereotypes, games have the potential to be as meaningful to players as other, more esteemed forms of entertainment such as literature or cinema."

In addition, gamers are already keen to watch (as well as play) the latest titles, with a booming online market in sites streaming gameplay.

Online streaming service Twitch which was bought by Amazon for nearly a billion dollars in September 2014 has 100 million visitors per month.

Big events, such as the 'League of Legends' championships, can pull in 20 million viewers and gamers even take time out from gameplay just to watch.

During Destiny’s first week on sale, 20 million fans took time out from actually playing the game to watch 240 million minutes of content recorded by other players.

The size of the audience is mind-boggling

In total, there are  34.7 million gamers in Britain playing everything from 'Angry Birds' to 'Grand Theft Auto' to 'Destiny' according to UKIE.

"The British-made game 'Grand Theft Auto V' remains the best-selling entertainment product of all time," says Dr Jo Twist, CEO of gaming trade body UK Interactive Entertainment.

"That shows just how big games are."

'Casual' titles such as 'Angry Birds' also have an unimaginably large audience with three billion downloads before the launch of the sequel, 'Angry Birds 2', this summer.

Gamers can spend big

The average price for a video game in the UK is £59.99. A pretty significant outlay on face value, but when you look at the shear amount of content available to consumers for that price, it's actually pretty good value for the cash.

However, it does prove that gamers have money to spend and, if they like the title, will stump up cash to keep the entertainment coming. Hit games offer packages of downloadable content (DLC) to fans in order to satisfy the demand for new content.

Since launch in September 2014, 'Destiny' has launched two packages of DLC, which retail at £20 each. For the game’s 20 million players, buying these is a no-brainer. It’s an easy way to access the game’s most powerful weapons and extra content.


UKIE revealed that the average age of a gamer is 35, quite a bit older than many would have first thought. This means the disposeable income of the average gamer is much higher than the false stereotype of teenagers with pocket money might suggest.

Therefore it's not too difficult to visualise gamers spending £10 to see their favourite titles on the big screen.

TV series based on games are already big news

Web series distributed through games consoles such as 'Halo: Nightfall' have blurred the lines between the two.

Executive-produced by Alien director Ridley Scott, the series had a budget of $10m, and was released on DVD worldwide.

Microsoft used the series to launch an entire TV channel based on its 'Halo' universe which is available online, and as an app for iOS and Android.

The 'Halo Channel' is part TV show, part promotional tool with dedicated viewers winning weapons and armour they can use in the upcoming game, 'Halo 5'.

A further series, set to be executive produced by keen gamer and Hollywood heavyweight Steven Spielberg, has been announced, although details have remained scant.

Actors are transcending both industries

We've seen Hollywood stars make the transfer from films to games before. Kevin Spacey took a role in last year's 'Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare' and Peter Dinklage appeared in Activision's space shooter, 'Destiny'.

Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, John Cleese and Kate Beckinsale have all popped up in recent titles, but what is more interesting is that the video games industry is making stars of their own - and they are getting big.

So much so that Hollywood and TV have already come knocking on well-known voice talents from hit games and merging video game stars into their arena, including veteran game voiceover star Nolan North.

Described as ‘the leading man’ of gaming, North has lent his voice to video games for over 12 years and has certainly made a name for himself. Although still providing his voice for games, he also uses his vocal talents to goo effect in film and TV. However, more recently his skills have extended to physical acting in a number of manistream projects.

Recently, North impressed Hollywood director/producer JJ Abrams so much that he cast North in his sci-fi blockbuster 'Star Trek Into Darkness'.

Games have big, original ideas

As well as being gamers themselves, big-name directors such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Peter Jackson have all worked on creating games too. Jackson even said in a recent interview, "I'm enjoying these games more than I am enjoying films at the moment. They are using a lot of the film techniques now."

Games such as 'Destiny' tell their stories in multiple ways. From spoken cut-scenes to 'Grimoire Cards', readable sections which offer far more detail on the plot. It's an entirely new way of telling stories.

When 'Destiny' launched in September 2014, the game's characters and universe were entirely new and it became the fourth-highest-selling game of the year in just a few weeks.

Hollywood rarely dares to break new ground in this fashion as a look at this year's top blockbusters proves.

The top three films at the 2015 box office are 'Jurassic World', 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' and 'Furious 7'. All well-worn franchises, one of which comes from equally well-worn comic books.

For studios with big ideas and deep pockets, gaming is a new way to bet big.

Before 'Destiny' launched, publisher Activision predicted it would be the biggest new IP launch in history.

Within five days, it was.