Recently in the Rage support forums someone was complaining about John Carmack only making Rage to make money.

My response was "It's kind of like he owns a business... "

He said "it's called being greedy."

I said "you say that like he doesn't know how to make money. It's a business, not an art."

His final response was "HAHAHAHAHA not an art? Get off this planet you f***ing parasite. What, next you are going to tell me that movies and music are just businesses? I hope you are prepared to be called an idiot by everyone for that statement"



Now, I am wondering. How many of you are on my side, and recognize game making as a business for making money. And how many of you agree with him that it's not a business?

Devs should be in it for art, publishers should be in for money.

The guy your talking about has a point, Rage is a cash in since all it really is is a tech demo since the game seems rushed and incomplete. Gaming is about art, money is just a benefit for it being good, same as music.

Obviously it is a business, although some individual developers/programmers also consider it an art.

And as far as movies are concerned, Hollywood is definitely a business! One of the old Hollywood moguls said something like 'If you want to make art become a painter, we're here to make movies'!

I see it as a business built on art

Everything is a buisness now. While the people who make the games, might do it because they like it, but the owners of the companies in most cases do not, and only own the companies for the money. For example Bethesda makes and publishes games. Who owns them? Zenimax I believe. They don't care about games, but the bottom line. Money. It is all about money.

If it wasn't about money, we wouldn't have Oblivion then. Oblivion changed drastically from Morrowind because it wanted more sales. The "common gamer". It is all about money.

Same for movies, and music. You telling me almost all these producers care about heavy metal music, or rap music or what ever type of music really care? As long as it sells and makes money they will still keep producing it. Without producers, there would be no "artists" being it singers, actors, directors, programmers, desingers etc etc to be able to make what they love.

So it starts with money and ends with money. Without money nobody will be able to do with what they love, simple as that.

So yes, it is all a buisness.

Business is a art.

Aren't movies subsidized to some extent?

Unfortunately it's mostly business now. That's why the indie games scene is so interesting, it's motivated by innovation not profit. See Dear Esther, Minecraft, Limbo, etc.

That's not to say the mainstream games industry can't innovate: Mirror's Edge, Portal, etc.

Most Hollywood movies are not subsidized to my knowladge.

Movies are subsidized to some extent so more money will be made. For example Canada subsidizes Canadian movies so the Canadian content is out there and it's not always foriegn films being viewed all the time. It's to help the Canadian Businesses to make money to help compete with the Bigger Boys and Girls.

The guy (not op) has a very good point.

Tax incentives is probably the word I was looking for... I hear Vancouver is pretty cheap place to film.

Kinda both , some people do it solely for the money or the art , or a mixture of the two. Just stating it is one thing discarding why some people do it.

Yes so true. Again for money, so now instead of filming in Hollywood they come to Vancouver. Toronto is trying to do the same thing, by offering cheaper alternatives, so the money is spent in Toronto instead of Hollywood or Vancouver. I think Vancouver offerst the best deal so far and lots of films are being done there now.

I agree with this statement, along with Riddike116's point below the OP

Problem is, the current model that games needs some changing. There was an Extra Credits episode that addressed this, and the solutions they raised sounded quite solid. Problem is....I don't remember which videos
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/show/extra-credits

Truthfully Game Making is an Enterprise built on the backs of artists which is a 50/50 take. Sometimes it can be a 10/90 take where the Enterprise will demand that something be made just to sell it for money *sequel on top of sequel on top of sequel as well as re-re-re-releases*. No matter how you look at it a person has to be compensated in one form or another for their work in order to survive in this world. Even though games out there say they are FTP they have to make money to sustain themselves.

It's a business. To think otherwise is naive.