The Cut Scene - Video Game Blog by Variety

Sony launches Playstation 3 video store with most of Hollywood on board

As expected, Sony finally launched its video download store on Tuesday after announcing it at its E3 press conference. But despite the fact that as of just a few weeks ago it didn't have many studios on board, it has wrapped up thsoe deals quickly.

Every major studio is now renting and/or selling movie downloads via Playstation network except for Universal (which, ironically, just signed onto Xbox Live on Monday). Currently Fox is the only TV network on board though, leaving Sony far behind Microsoft in TV content, though pretty even in movies.

As I reported earlier, film downloads to the Playstation 3 will be transferable to the PSP (the transfer can also be done from a PC to PSP). That's a possible competitive advantage over Xbox Live and it's also a new feature for Internet downloads that, studio insiders say, made these deals more complex than they otherwise would have been.

More details are in my story on today's E3 developments.

Activision and DreamWorks breaking up in 2010

Activision's relationship with DreamWorks Animation has been probably the most stable in the videogame biz for as long as I've been covering it. It's like that marriage you thought would last forever.

While other movie studios constantly flirt with different videogame publishers -- and vice-versa -- Activision has consistently put out two games per year, based on every single one of DreamWorks' toons (save for a little spat over 2005 bomb "Wallace and Gromit," which DWA just distributed for Aardman). Hell, sometimes they've been so in love that Activision has put out extra games based on DreamWorks characters, like "Shrek Super Slam" and this fall's second "Kung Fu Panda" game.

But just like with my parents (whoa! too personal?), even the most seemingly perfect relationships can end suddenly. So it is with these two, as DreamWorks Animation announced that it is moving onto THQ starting with the fall 2010 movie tentatively titled "Master Mind." Activision is already committed to make games based on DreamWorks toons through spring 2010's "Shrek Goes Fourth."

What's the reason? According to DreamWorks, it's simple: It went out to the market for "Master Mind" and THQ made the best offer. Activision, for whatever reason, wouldn't or couldn't step up to the plate.

The THQ deal may just be a one-time fling, however. DreamWorks isn't making any commitments. What happens in 2011 and beyond? Will it commit to THQ? Try out some other suitors? Go back to Activision?
We'll have to wait and see. Love can be fickle.

For more details, check out the story on Variety.com.

No Grand Theft Auto IV effect on Iron Man

$104.2 million later, I think we can safely say that "GTA IV" had zero impact on "Iron Man's" opening.  Paramount's Rob Moore was right: "It's crazy to think that young males can't carve out two hours for Iron Man. It's going to be a great week to be a young guy.'' (Pamela McClintock reports in Variety that the "Iron Man" aud was 62% male).

Obviously you can't prove a counter-factual, but when a movie breaks this many records, it sure doesn't look like anything was holding it back.

Pundits who got it wrong: Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, Wedbush Morgan analyst Edward Woo; the editors of GamePro; Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey;  and probably others who I'm not finding right now. (additions to this list are welcome)

For the record, I explored the idea that "GTA IV" might impact "Iron Man's" opening b.o., but did a little research and concluded that was unlikely (though I did leave open the possibility that there could be a slight overall effect on movie viewership this summer amongst gamers).

Instead, I wrote in a story on the topic, "GTA IV" was more likely to impact homevideo sales (which is why no DVDs aimed at young males came out last week) and TV ratings amongst the gamer demo. I'll check the TV ratings data this week and find out if that proved true.

Where the studios stand on video games

Following my story about Paramount getting into video games today, I've had a few questions about just what the status is of various studios in the space. The short answer is that, as I wrote, Paramount and Warner Bros. are the only studios that publish video games. But Disney has a corporate sibling that's a video game publisher, as does Sony, which seems to confuse some people. So here's a short summary of where they all stand:

-Disney: Walt Disney Studios isn't in videogames at all, but the Walt Disney Company owns Disney Interactive Studios (and I'm switching to acronyms now to avoid saying "Disney" anymore). DIS is tight with its corporate siblings and publishes a lot of games based on Disney movies and ABC/Disney TV group shows (which includes those on ABC, Disney Channel, etc.) DIS also publishes some  games not based on existing Disney properties, like "Spectrobes," "Turok," and the upcoming "Pure."

-Fox: Licenses it properties to videogame publishers. It used to have a videogame division, but it sold that to Vivendi in 2003.

-Lionsgate: Licenses its properties to videogame publishers.

-MGM: Licenses its properties to videogame publishers.

-Paramount: Has traditionally licensed out all its properties. Just starting to get into publishing itself.

-Sony Pictures: Its corporate sibling is Sony Computer Entertainment, maker of the Playstation consoles and maker of games for them. Sony Pictures used to own Sony Online Entertainment, but that vidgame division very recently moved under the control of SCE as part of a corporate re-org. Despite its close corporate relationship with one of the industry's biggest videogame players, Sony Pictures licenses out its properties to various different videogame publishers. There is now special relationship with SCE.

-Universal: Licenses out all its properties.

-Warner Bros.: In 2004 established Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which has been growing and handling more and more of Warner. Bros.' properties in the videogame space. WBIE owns developer Monolith and is considering buying more developers. It also oversees licensing to other publishers for some Warner. Bros properties that it doesn't handle. Warner's homevideo unit distributes WBIE games at retail and also handles those duties in the U.S. for Eidos and Codemasters. In addition, WB recently bought British developer/publisher Traveller's Tales. It's not yet entirely clear to what extent Traveller's Tales will work with WBIE and to what extent it will operate independently. Oh, and Warner owns a 10% stake in Eidos.

Paramount gets into the game

Big news exclusively in today's Daily Variety: Paramount is getting into videogame publishing.

There have been vague rumors about this in the past and wild speculation when an executive said the studio is "very excited" about the space. But we've got confirmed what the interest is and how they're implementing it.

In short, Paramount is going to start publishing and co-publishing games based on its movie properties. It will still do licenses, but it's going to start spending some of its own money and getting more involved in production. I don't know yet what the games will be, but there's a slate in the works and the first few will come out later this year. My sense is that Paramount is leaning more towards casual, mobile, or handheld games given the lower risk, but they say they're looking at everything.

That makes it only the second film studio, along with Warner Bros., to be in the game publishing business. However I know that that several others are considering it, both because they see how much faster the videogame business is growing than film and TV and because they want to try and ensure that there won't be crappy games based on their films. Of course Disney and Sony aren't looking at it though, since they both have sister companies in the videogame biz.

Want all the details on Paramount's entry into the videogame biz? Just click here.