Katzenberg: Videogame sales are hurting DVDs

Just finished covering earnings for DreamWorks Animation, but I got an interesting tidbit for Cut Scene readers as well.

We've all heard theories that the rapid growth of videogames is impacting consumption of other media, particularly movies and TV. There's little in the way of causal data, of course, only assumptions.

Turns out DreamWorks Animation CEO and Hollywood veteran Jeffey Katzenberg (co-founder of DreamWorks SKG, former head of Walt Disney Studios) agrees. On a conference call with analysts today, he blamed videogames in part for the soft performance of "Shrek the Third" on DVD compared to "Shrek 2":

Competition at retail from other sources such as videogames has had an impact on the overall homevideo market and on the performance of individual titles including "Shrek the Third."

Of course DreamWorks is well positioned to recoup some of those losses thanks to its deal with Activision (Blizzard). This year not only does it have games tied to the release of May's "Kung Fu Panda" and November's "Madagascar" sequel, but a second "Kung Fu Panda" game for the fall tied to that film's DVD release.