Op/Ed: Let’s End the Movie/Game Sales Comparisons

Our friends in the PR business will scoff at this, but it’s time to end the movie vs. game sales comparisons, once and for all.

This nasty yet somehow effective marketing tactic began almost 10 years ago on 9/9/99, the launch date of Sega’s final console: Dreamcast. Back then, Sega marketing gurus, led by now-EA Sports President Peter Moore proclaimed the console generated more revenue--$98.4 million—on its launch day than the $28.5 million first day showing of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Dreamcast’s launch price was $200, did not pack in any games, came with one controller and no memory unit. So it’s safe to say that most of those who purchased a console easily attached some games and at least memory unit, bringing the average purchase total closer to $275. On the other hand, the average movie ticket price in 1999 was between $6 and $7.

The more meaningful comparison would be the amount of consumers who purchased a Phantom Menace ticket vs. those who purchased a Dreamcast.

It’s simply an awful comparison, yet it continues to occur today.

Fast forward nearly nine years later to April 29, 2008. Rockstar Games’ blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV is launches for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, raking in an amazing $310 million in revenue on its first day alone, impressive by any standard.

Today, Guinness sent out a press release noting GTA IV’s remarkable and record-breaking day, adding that it generated “five times the revenue generated by The Dark Knight in its first 24 hours of release.”

GTA IV came in two flavors: the $60 regular edition and a $90 collector’s edition packed in with some extra goodies. We don’t have the breakdown of sales for those two SKUs, but call it a gut feeling the less expensive one sold more. Regardless, we’re once again dealing with two products—a game vs. a movie ticket—sold at two very different price points.

What concerns us is the amount of blogs that chose to report off this press release and not once remind its audiences of the apples and oranges difference between the two products. The only similarity they share is that they are both entertainment products.

So it is with an impassioned plea that we at The Game Trade Journal ask the game marketers to stop the movie/game sales comparisons. You had us at $310 million.