The Weinstein Co., known for its arty, award-winning films, said yesterday it is moving into the video game business. The company is developing video games based on its “Scream,” and “Spy Kids,” movie franchises with a number of third-party companies, including Beefy Media, a video game production company.
New York-based Weinstein Co. sees gaming as a very lucrative sideline, and insiders say the firm will use its storytelling expertise to develop the creative side of video game-making.
The move is somewhat of a surprise, given the Weinsteins’ recent admission that previous efforts at diversifying the movie company got the firm in financial trouble.
Now that the movie division has found its footing again, thanks to the Oscar-winning “The King’s Speech,” the firm is looking to branch out again.
The aim is to push its franchises into the lucrative gaming business across mobile, social and console platforms, according to a company statement issued yesterday. The Weinstein Co. had argued that it owned the franchise rights to many of the films that were made during the years that Harvey and Bob Weinstein ran Miramax. Miramax was sold to Disney, which later sold it to a consortium spearheaded by Colony Capital.
“With all of the digital platforms, there are so many opportunities to broaden our audience with compelling, high quality, cost efficient video game entertainment,” said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co.
The video game content business is worth an estimated $15.4 billion, according to NPD Group. Meanwhile, Zynga, which created Farmville and MafiaWars, is looking at an IPO date of 2012 and has a valuation of $10 billion.