game publishers ~= movie publishers?

Gamasutra has an interesting article
Are Game Publishers Becoming More Like Movie Publishers?

It does raise some very interesting points on such issue as relationship between ratings and profitability… it is a business after all, even though it may be a beloved passion for many of us. From the article:

It seems that publishers within the video game industry are taking the same route as movie publishers, not necessarily concerning themselves with quality so much as publishing profitable titles. Essentially, Activision is to the video game industry what Paramount is to the movie industry: Infinity Ward as Activision’s LucasFilm, Call of Duty 4 as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
[...]
The uncanny resemblance does not end there – as the movie publishers sometimes act as just a distributor for a film, having little control on the film’s production. Again, refer to Paramount, which acts just as a distributor for companies like DreamWorks and Marvel.

But unlike what many may think I am not actually crying for these things or complaining: I do understand it’s a business, and i think that’s a great thing. People have loud mouths but they really vote with their pockets (and the two messages often differ). I do see a silver lining though: the bigger the business becomes the more valid niche products become… because, let’s admit it, games which are about high art are a niche, not the norm and what everybody wants to see… but that’s okay :D Those of us here are used to being "different".