MTV to Invest 'Well Over' $500 Million in Video Game Sector
MTV Networks President of Global Digital Media Mika Salmi, who joined MTV after parent company Viacom bought Atom Entertainment last year for $200 million, said that "games are critical."
"As we take our brands narrow and deep to serve our targeted, niche audiences, we're putting well over $500 million behind building our games business across all of the brands in our portfolio," explained MTV chairman and chief executive Judy McGrath. "I'd like to see more game applications on some of our current big brands across the music group," McGrath said, apparently referring to the potential for creating games based on the networks' range of shows.
Of course, MTV's biggest splash in the gaming arena will be felt this fall when their Rock Band game goes axe-to-axe with Activision's Guitar Hero III. As Reuters points out, Rock Band "is now viewed as its most ambitious bet to influence digital entertainment as MTV's cable TV channel transformed the music industry in the 1980s." Moreover, MTVN is investigating how they could link Rock Band to its traditional cable networks and Web properties. At the same time, however, Salmi cautioned that MTV has to be careful not to alienate gamers.
"It's hard to tell where it's going to go," Salmi said. "It's in the consumers' hands to take it to the next level."
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