3 ms·

That front business scenario is pretty much the same. You have an initial run (with marketing and different venues) and that's it. Difference is in the life aft

That front business scenario is pretty much the same. You have an initial run (with marketing and different venues) and that's it. Difference is in the life after it. It's not uncommon for different companies to buy rights to older films and then do business on top of that. You're forgetting a key factor here. Unlike games sales channels, films and tv shows also have programme channels which are willing to pay for running your old shows. And, unlike vod/direct sales, they tend to generate money for all of your catalogue. You kind of have that with games through those bundles every now and then. Issue is that, with game analogy, those bundle sellers (who upfront the marketing for your old stuff) aren't willing to have your stuff if it's on steam as well. Also, they don't pay from what they sell, but a fixed fee for each run. So, it kind of is like games and isn't at the same time. Namely due to tv channels which generate the most money for that after life. Also, take into account that most rights holders have a catalogue of items which has dead weight in them which they try to capitalise on. Hence package deals and channels wanting or being forced into getting them in order to get hot items. That's, I presume, reason why you see, in games, distributor bundles as well. Business ideas have converged already, apart from tv channels where there's no analogy in games. I'm still waiting to see what will become of widespread and free platforms like youtube where, I am sure, there will be sponsored screenings of certain parts, if not whole, catalogues as well.

shmerl 10y ago
Interesting. Bundles do appear even if games are sold through competitors. For instance, while Humble Bundle were probably the pioneer of it, you can now often see bundles of discounted games sold on GOG, usually either from some single publisher, or themed in certain way (those games already should exist in their catalog, but that bundle offering is usually a special sale event). Most of the time those same games are also available through Steam, so there is no exclusivity involved. Regarding TV channels - I think they are slowly declining and eventually will die out completely, because they aren't really a flexible method, that's why you don't see anything similar in games which is a newer industry and has less legacy baggage to deal with.
- Keyframe 10y ago
  I'm not sure where it will lead, but exclusivity is not good for consumers. This all boils down to trademarks and regionalities. Not something we've seen much of in games since consoles. TV has been around for some time now and TV Stations needed (still need) licenses from local governments and it's not a global play, until as of recent. Rights and global market are still feeling each other out. Music kind of went through the same process via Apple's iTunes, but it's also kind of a different business. With music you have other streams of revenue as well - live performance, different rights to it (song, performance, etc.), etc. With TV channels going away, my instinct was the same - being oriented more towards "I'll watch what I want and when I want" and different outlets that enabled that have been booming (youtube, torrents, netflix-like platforms, etc). However, TV is bringing in more business than ever. It seems that it's not a zero-sum game between those two. In fact, it seems those two aren't even competing.

shmerl 10y ago

Interesting. Bundles do appear even if games are sold through competitors. For instance, while Humble Bundle were probably the pioneer of it, you can now often see bundles of discounted games sold on GOG, usually either from some single publisher, or themed in certain way (those games already should exist in their catalog, but that bundle offering is usually a special sale event). Most of the time those same games are also available through Steam, so there is no exclusivity involved. Regarding TV channels - I think they are slowly declining and eventually will die out completely, because they aren't really a flexible method, that's why you don't see anything similar in games which is a newer industry and has less legacy baggage to deal with.

Keyframe 10y ago
I'm not sure where it will lead, but exclusivity is not good for consumers. This all boils down to trademarks and regionalities. Not something we've seen much of in games since consoles. TV has been around for some time now and TV Stations needed (still need) licenses from local governments and it's not a global play, until as of recent. Rights and global market are still feeling each other out. Music kind of went through the same process via Apple's iTunes, but it's also kind of a different business. With music you have other streams of revenue as well - live performance, different rights to it (song, performance, etc.), etc. With TV channels going away, my instinct was the same - being oriented more towards "I'll watch what I want and when I want" and different outlets that enabled that have been booming (youtube, torrents, netflix-like platforms, etc). However, TV is bringing in more business than ever. It seems that it's not a zero-sum game between those two. In fact, it seems those two aren't even competing.