Activision Blizzard is likely to be selling in-game cutscenes as full movies sometime in the next five years.
That after Bobby Kotick's - Activision Blizzard CEO - press meeting at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in California.
This suggestion would cater to the StarCraft fans interested in only the single player story but without the need to play the campaign. This would for instance include all the in-game cinematics could be compiled togeher into one film and be distributed out digitally.
"If we were to take that hour, or hour an a half, and take it out of the game and we were to go to our audiences, who we have their credit card information a direct relationship, and say to them 'Would you like to have the StarCraft movie?'," said Kotick.
Kotick continued to say he believes his business model is superior to current film studios. He believes that a publisher distributed StarCraft movie would crush any opening weekend box office record.
"My guess is unlike film studios that are really stuck with a model that goes through theatrical distribution and takes a signification amount of the profit away, if we were to go to an audience and say 'We have this great hour and a half of linear video that we'd like to make available to you at a $20 or $30 price point,' you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever," he said.
Kotick further say this within the next five years we are likely to see them do that, partnered up with somebody or alone.
Already, back in 2002, Blizzard released a set of collector's-edition DVDs, for WarCraft III, Diablo II and StarCraft: Brood War, filled with the cinematics. They also included director's commentary tracks and cinematic storyboards.
Discuss: Would you pay to watch an in-game cutscene movie?
Links
IGN.com - Source