Games vs. Movies - Round 2,382

Don’t get me wrong, I love the video game industry – and I fully believe it’s the future of entertainment. But for a field that’s growing at such an exponential rate, it sure has an inferiority complex.

The NPD Group, which tracks video game sales, put out an interesting survey late Wednesday, showing that 63 percent of Americans have played a video game in the past six months while only 53 percent who have gone out to see a movie.

That, inevitably, led to triumphant headlines about the dominance of the industry. Most of those, though, forgot one little thing… the number of people going out to see a movie has been stagnating for some time. DVDs, On-Demand viewings and other forms of in-home entertainment continue to grow by leaps and bounds – and still trump the video game industry.

The most interesting part of the survey was actually buried in the fine print - and had nothing to do with the video game industry's 'battle' with Hollywood. 

Digital downloads are gaining traction at a notable pace. Five percent of the people NPD spoke with have paid to download a video game from the Web. That’s just shy of double the number who did so a year ago. It’s a sign that traditional retailers, who have mostly shrugged off the digital marketplace, might want to start rethinking their attitudes.

Video games may ultimately supplant the movie industry in terms of audience and dollars, but the industry still has a way to go – and, really, there’s no rush to do so. It’s a bragging right, but won’t buy video game developers or publishrs any additional legitimacy or respect. That’s something that comes with time and quality products.