Size of the games industry

[Kode]

Is the games industry larger than the movie industry? I, at first, thought not, but a friend of mine insists it is.

By "large", I mean, as an examples, the sum of all the money that all the games make in a year. How is this number compared to a similar number in the movie industry?

Sure, a game like Halo 2 is expected to dwarf most movie sales, but is the industry as a whole anywhere near the movie industry in terms of money made?

[Chris]

Games have higher monetary sales than movies do, yes. I wouldn't consider the industry "bigger" though, in terms of exposure.

[Ryam BaCo]

games make money than movies do, but i think because of the higher "popularity" in the movie industry (how many people know steven spielberg? vs. how many people know peter molyneux - as a short comparison ) many people think the opposite.

[RLacey]

Also, compare the number of released games to the number of films that reach your local cinema. I'm sure that there are more of the former.

[Marek]

The claim that the game industry is bigger than the movie industry in terms of money involved is being regularly contested by game industry insiders, so I wouldn't take it as a fact just yet.

[Ninja Dodo]

From what I understand the claim is true, but only if you restrict the comparison to the box office. As soon as you take DVDs, tv-licensing and such into account the games industry is dwarfed and not surprisingly so...

[Kode]

Wow, this is certainly news to me. But I'm sure what Marek has said deserves some credence.

I guess I was basing my thought process on Ron Gilbert's recent article on the Behind the Scenes of making a game. He did claim that it was hardly accurate, but I guess I took the fact that he said it's difficult to break even a little too seriously. After all, that is a 2D point n' click adventure and merely hypothetical.