AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Morphing Video Games into Movies - BusinessWeek

Electronic Arts plans to make its games the basis for TV shows, books, Web sites—and the big screen

Standing behind a two-way mirror, Glen Schofield anxiously peers out at a handful of gamers. The outcome of an ambitious effort to remake video game giant Electronic Arts (ERTS) could come down to how the players on the other side of the glass react to the next few moments of the yet-to-be-released game Dead Space. Suddenly they finger their controllers frantically, their smiling faces illuminated by the flicker of PC screens as a new weapon they’re testing mows down hordes of attacking beasts. Schofield, executive producer for the EA science fiction game, relaxes. “The response was off the charts,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s all about taking the player on a roller-coaster ride and creating a great game.”

Dead Space promises to be a stomach-churning adventure for EA, too. The old industry formula for success was simple: License a popular movie or sports title and then crank out slightly updated versions of Madden NFL or James Bond year after year. But that approach, developed in large part by EA, isn’t working now. Sales are flagging, and gamers are losing interest. “We’re boring people to death,” says John Riccitiello, EA’s chief executive.

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