Lionsgate exec: 'We're looking at our games business as the third leg of the stool'

SAN FRANCISCO — People might know Lionsgate for its movies and television shows. But by building on the success of titles based on its franchises, like The Hunger Games, Lionsgate intends to go much deeper into the game business.

“We’re looking at our games business as the third leg of the stool,” Peter Levin, Lionsgate’s president of interactive ventures and games, said today at the GamesBeat 2014 conference in San Francisco.

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For proof, recall Lionsgate’s investment in Next Games, a mobile game development shop based in Helsinki, Finland. And this isn’t the first time Kabam has worked on a movie license: The mobile game company created The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth for iOS and Android mobile devices.

Clearly, Lionsgate is keen to encourage the development of great games. Lionsgate has made movie writers and production companies available to the game developers with which it has partnered, said Chris Petrovic, the head of corporate development at Kabam. This is especially important as games based on films have left the traditional home game consoles for mobile devices.

Mobile devices in particular have become a larger part of content houses lately, and these are not merely marketing tools — the games can help reach global audiences. Widely used mobile operating systems could become a bigger platform in the future alongside gaming consoles.

And Lionsgate intends to play there.

“Long term, we would like to see games when applicable be a part of our roadmap of all IP,” Levin said.

In the next year, consumers could expect a half-dozen games come out with Lionsgate’s participation, he said.