Example Student Essay: Media Ownership

One of the issues raised by Media Ownership in the video games industry, is that two companies can share similar ideas but it could go against the Media Ownership license of the other company. For example Rockstar's, Grand Theft Auto Vice City is similar to Saints Row in the presentation of violence, stealing and driving cars and tasks in volition of law. This could be an issue, as consumers might prefer Saints Row to GTA Vice City, but because Saints Row is only available on the Xbox, consumers of video games can suffer at the hands of console ownership. Also, because of the difference in release dates, people could say that Saints Row was incredibly similar to GTA Vice City, which was released in 2002 whereas Saints Row was released in 2006. However, there are enough differences to say that Saints Row was not a copy of GTA Vice City, as the locations are different and also you can customise your character in the game Saints Row, down to the accent of their voice. Which, means the consumer can identify with the character, as the avatar may have the same characteristics as the consumer themselves.

Another issue surrounding Media Ownership is that it gives game companies a lot of power over their game and who can gain a license for the concept, property or idea. An example of this would be Rockstar, who previously gave Sony exclusivity to the GTA series, however when it came to the release of GTA IV Rockstar decided not to give Sony exclusivity. Also, Rockstar used their Media Ownership of GTA IV to release the game on Sony, PlayStation, PSP and Microsoft Xbox. Rockstar then allowed Microsoft add downloadable content for the Xbox, this cost them $50 million to have for only 2 years. The effect of this on the audience is that they develop strong brand loyalty but can often loose out when companies sell out ideas to other consoles.

Another issue of having Media Ownership of a concept, property or idea is that it does not always guarantee success in the video game that is produced. As E.T was a blockbuster film Atari believed it would be a good idea to get the rights of the film to make a game based on the narrative of E.T. However, the game did not get as much interest as Atari thought so the game failed in becoming as popular as the film. The reason the game was such a failure was because the negotiations between the original producer Steven Spielberg and Atari, took so long there development time was shortened which means the game was not to the full expectations of the audience, therefore Atari lost a lot of revenue as the consumers were sending the game back. This shows the Media Ownership of the rights of a concept sometimes do not fulfill expectations of what the consumers want, even though the company had exclusivity to the concept of E.T as a video game.

In conclusion, the main issue of Media Ownership in the video games industry is that one company can use the ownership to manipulate major console companies. This is the main issue as the company demand higher preferences for allowing other companies to have permission for either exclusivity or add-ons. The other issues are also important as they contribute to the success of the company that own the Media Ownership as failure of a game could lead to a negative perspective of the company.