Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg Discusses Hollywood Licenses

[Scott Tortorice]

I'm fascinated by the evolving relationship between gaming and movies, so this article caught my attention:

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg Discusses ‘Black Ops 2’ and Hollywood Licenses

Some of the more interesting stuff:

THR: With Activision’s The Amazing Spider-Man and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron coming out this year, what role do you see Hollywood-based games today playing in the industry?

Hirshberg: Just a few years ago having a character from a movie in a videogame was seen as a tremendous advantage because it came with a built-in mythology and it came with a character that you already had a relationship with, and sometimes some cool game mechanics like swinging through the world like Spider-Man. The games business has matured in the last few years. We actually think now the most preferred characters are the ones that are developed for games. It’s not about Indiana Jones, it’s about Nathan Drake in Uncharted. It’s not about characters from military movies, it’s about Price from Call of Duty. These are characters that are becoming beloved in their own right, and I think Skylanders shows that as well. As much as people love Pixar and Dreamworks movies and the characters that they see coming out of animated motion pictures, that’s the way they connect with Skylanders.

I think he is correct. There hasn't been an interesting Hollywood protagonist since Indiana Jones. However, there are more than a few interesting game characters that I would be interested to learn more about in a cinematic setting (Raynor from Starcraft, for example. Countless 40K characters as well. ). This is doubly true for settings. When it comes to creating interesting worlds / mythologies, gaming has provided far more attractive and fascinating settings than anything out of Hollywood in a long, long time.

The next question is interesting, unfortunately Hirshberg ignores the salient point and just provides a muddled answer about how it is all good.

THR: It doesn’t seem like Hollywood makes as many games based on movies these days.

Hirshberg: That’s still happening, and we’re still in that business and we still think that’s a good business, but it’s really shifted from that. Now if there’s an advantage to the character, the way that Transformers gives you tremendous creativity to play with in terms of what the characters can do as fighters and vehicles in one character. That’s great for gaming, it’s the same with Spider-Man. We came out with games for Battleship and Men In Black, so there is still a role, but I do think that the games business has matured to the point where the narratives, the mythologies, the characters that are coming from games are the most powerful in games and I think that’s great for the industry.

The last sentence of this answer is the most important (emphasis is mine):

THR: What does The Amazing Spider-Man, which offers a prologue to the new Sony Pictures movie, open up creatively for Beenox to be able to go beyond the scope of the movie?

Hirshberg: Anytime you’re working with a licensed character it brings certain opportunities. Spider-Man is a character that everybody knows and everybody already has a relationship with. He comes with some powers and capabilities that are very game-friendly, so that opens up a lot of creativity. But I think the shift that’s happened in the relationship between gaming and Hollywood is that it’s now not viewed as a licensed product, so much as a mutually beneficial relationship where the game becomes one of the key marketing assets and one of the key ways that generate interest in the new franchise. There’s always been the advantage that if we’re coming out with a game attached to a big movie property, there’s a lot of marketing going on and a lot of focus on that character and that story at the time we’re launching and that’s advantageous to us. But gaming has become pretty key to the strategy of a lot of the properties in the movie business, and rightfully so, because it’s where a lot of people are spending the majority of their entertainment dollars and time.

And there we have it. Even with the dismal brick and mortar sales, gaming is eclipsing the old media to a greater and greater extent. However, right now it seems like movies and TV are content to leech off of gaming at best and, at worst, pretend like it doesn't exist or denigrate it.

Lastly, where is the announcement for a CoD movie?!?!

What game-based movie would you like to see become a reality?

 

[Vinnie]

While I'd like to see a Skyrim movie, I can't help thinking that Hollywood would manage to make only a Diablo one...pots of violence and no real plot line..maybe like Diablo 3, lots of violence no real plot line and the hype so big that no one really gets to enjoy it.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Hollywood execs don't even understand their own industry and can barely produce one or two decent movies a year and you expect them to understand the games industry?

 

[Scott Tortorice]

While I'd like to see a Skyrim movie, I can't help thinking that Hollywood would manage to make only a Diablo one...pots of violence and no real plot line..maybe like Diablo 3, lots of violence no real plot line and the hype so big that no one really gets to enjoy it.

LOL! I think you nailed it!

A Skyrim movie is an interesting idea. I would love for Hollywood to take a crack at a dark and bloody fantasy setting...or did Snow White and the Huntsman cover that already? Personally, I would love a Warhammer fantasy movie focused on a witch hunter character.

Don Maddox

Re: Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg Discusses Hollywood Licenses
Hollywood execs don't even understand their own industry and can barely produce one or two decent movies a year and you expect them to understand the games industry?​

Also a good point. And it is true. Like I wrote above, Hollywood has been strangely ignorant of most game titles, and of those they are aware of (such as the big hitters CoD and Halo), they have been unwilling/unable to get a movie made.

<sigh>

 

[Fort]

movie focused on a witch hunter character.

Sorta what you asked for:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970452/

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Sorta what you asked for:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970452/

Yes, I know! But did you know that the movie has been unable to find a US distributor for almost two years? One of the great Hollywood mysteries.