Tron Creator Views Games as “Test Bed for Hollywood”

Tron creator Steve Lisberger described his view of a growing relationship between games and movies to Reuters lately.

“I like the fact that the games in some ways are a visual and a narrative test bed for Hollywood, where some of the more far-out ideas can be experimented with on a somewhat smaller scale than having to ratchet them all the way up to a film like Tron: Legacy. I think that’s a good relationship between games and films,” Lisberger said.

Lisberger is referring to the games Tron: Evolution and Tron: Evolution Battle Grids. These games fill in parts of the backstory from Tron: Legacy, fleshing out the setting and story, and ideally investing players in a property and providing potential for sequels.

“I think Tron has the potential to become a real franchise. Right now the focus is on launching a great movie and a great video game, and then hoping that the people out there agree with us. If they do, we have the ability as a company to basically turn something that’s successful in one medium or two into a true franchise,” Walt Disney President and CEO Bob Iger said. “And we’re fully prepared to do that with Tron.”

Iger also sees potential in combining 3D with new properties to make something consumers will want to, well, consume.

“I think games like Tron: Legacy have a great opportunity to use 3D technology to create a much more immersive experience for the consumer. When you use new technology to make something that is more compelling for the consumer, then they want more of it,” Iger said. “They want to watch it more, play it more, and buy it more.”

The PlayStation 3 – with its ability to play 3D movies and 3D games, is a symbol of this crossover in entertainment.

“You can already play Blu-ray 3D and 3D games on PlayStation 3, so games are a great way to get the technology into the home,” Tron: Legacy Director Joe Kosinski said. “Games and movies are very different experiences and it’s great to have one leverage the other into the home theatre environment. I think there’s room for both and I can’t wait to play the Tron game in 3D myself.”

While I love the hell out of Tron and the prospect of it turning into an active franchise is extremely appealing, something about the pervasive attitude seems a little off. Lisberger’s view that games can be an inexpensive test bed for ideas is misdirected – games are already bigger than movies. If anything movies will be the test bed for new properties going forward to pave the way for a more immersive experiences in games.

Either way the more laser Frisbees we have the better.

[via Reuters]