It’s always been EM’s contention that the Video Game Industry is becoming more and more like the Film Industry every day. The increase in the graphical powers of today’s generation of console games has opened up the field tremendously. Now a single hit video game can out gross all the summer blockbusters (Zelda 64 did this a few years ago), although I don’t have any statistics to prove this statement, I’m pretty sure the sales on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City probably out grossed several of this summer’s top blockbusters. I mean when you think about it, it makes sense, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has sold more than 2 million copies, at an average price of $49 a pop, you do the math.
The game industry now earns (and has for the last 7 or 8 years) more money than either the film or music business. We are talking about an $11 billion a year business. So it’s only appropriate that at some point the industry would start handling its business more like the rest of the Entertainment Industry. Game Developers and Publishers have always had two separate goals, and the game developer has almost always come up on the short end of the stick. Now these developers are demanding more and more their piece of the pie and to help them, they are turning to high powered Game Agents. Similar to how regular agents work, game agents, act as a liaison between the publishers and developers, and also help developers exploit other license opportunities for their intellectual property, which can include anything from movie deals, to music videos, etc. I recently caught up with one of the top game agents in the country, Dan Lee Rogers, to ask him about his job and the business. Here’s what he had to say. EM I like to start all my interviews off with my standard, overly broad question, please tell us who you are and why we’re speaking with you today? DLRMy name is Dan Lee Rogers, and I am the founder and president of BizDev, Inc. BizDev is the leading business management firm in the video game market. Prior to BizDev, I held executive marketing and development positions at Virgin Interactive, Sierra On-Line, and IBM. Over my career I have been fortunate to have been part of some of the biggest hits in the industry, including Command and Conquer, The 11th Hour, and many of Sierra