[nextparadigms]

Silicon Valley doesn't have to take on Hollywood head-on. That's almost always the wrong strategy to try to beat an incumbent.

The way you beat an incumbent leader is by changing the rules of the games so it's very hard for that company to play that new game, whether it's because they lack the competency or because the have internal conflicts of interest for doing that (think of the TV networks not really wanting to go full-web because it would eat into their much larger profits from traditional advertising).

Of course you don't just change the rules for the sake of changing the. This new game must also feel like the "future" of that market, and you need to be able to attract not only Hollywood "non-consumption", but also be able to transition Hollywood's "consumers" over time to your company (or companies - I still think that what would kill Hollywood is an entire different ecosystem for creating, distributing and watching movie, and not just a movie juggernaut like Hollywood).

[eftpotrm]

Significantly, tech already has. How often do we hear numbers quoted that the gaming industry now grosses more than films?

Displacing the influence of the old leader in the community mindset is certainly a known problem and one that we've seen in other sectors. But, there's no disputing it - the kids are spending their time playing games rather more than watching films, and Hollywood isn't set up to produce interactive, dynamic content.

The rules of the game have been changed, and tech has won. Gaming beats films, and sooner or later people will realise it.

[contextfree]

What is "tech"? I think the game development world, at least big console games, is mostly closer to Hollywood than it is to the "web startup" world. Hollywood uses and develops plenty of technology too (e.g. in computer graphics) - it's silly to talk about "tech" as something cohesive.

[Hemospectrum]

But the game industry isn't desperately fighting the internet the way Hollywood is. A lot of smaller game studios (and a couple big ones) clearly understand that clinging to an obsolete business model is futile nonsense, and have embraced the online market. And they're absolutely thriving for it.

The console market isn't making the transition nearly as quickly, but I'm certain this is chiefly a matter of getting value out of existing investments (deployed hardware).

[stonemetal]

Sure they are, they don't like piracy just as much as the movie makers. Their lobby arm, the ESA, was pro SOPA just like the rest. They are a bit more fractured about it, but big budget games are closer to big budget Hollywood than not.

[technoslut]

I agree with you but doing so means that you have to acquire the talent to build the new business model. No major tech company seems to want to take that risk.