Jerry Bruckheimer inks Game Deal with MTV
December 19, 2007

Given the popularity and lucrative financial explosion of the red hot video game market, producer extraordinaire Jerry Bruckheimer has inked an exclusive deal with MTV Games to develop original game properties within a new yet-to-be-constructed game studio. Bruckheimer, one of the most successful film and TV producers of the modern era, will be following in the footsteps of Steven Spielberg who teamed up with Electronic Arts (EA) back in 2005 to unite the gaming world with Hollywood on a larger scale.

According to Hollywood Reporter, the newly formed Bruckheimer - MTV relationship could see the mega-producer outputting games across multiple platforms that extend to mobile formats and the many virtual universes that have become wildly popular in recent years. Bruckheimer, who currently has deals with Disney and Warner Bros. in both film and TV, has produced some of the most successful films, franchises, and TV shows of the past 30 years, including Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, The Rock, Armaggedon, Bad Boys, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, National Treasure, Pirates of the Caribbean, C.S.I., Without a Trace, and The Amazing Race.

As Hollywood Reporter reveals, Jerry Bruckheimer feels many of his movies lend themselves well to the gaming universe, "If you look at our movies, at least the stuff that we've done in everything from 'Pearl Harbor' to 'Armageddon' to 'Top Gun' to 'Black Hawk Down,' and you look at the angles, the shots and concepts, you see a lot of similarities to games."

Also, as part of the new deal, Bruckheimer will also be building a development "incubation" studio for the Santa Monica based MTV Games. As HR reports, Jeff Yapp, MTV Networks executive Vice President of programming enterprises, has high hopes for the end result and is confident in Bruckheimer's abilities, "At the end of the day we only have so much time to do things, and rather than do lots of little things, we want to focus on big opportunities. Jerry is an extremely effective storyteller, and with this deal we've kind of blown up all the traditional models."

Given MTV's recent surge into the highly lucrative gaming market, the new deal should take everyone involved (and the film world) to new heights. In November, MTV Games and Harmonix announced the set list for Rock Band, one of the hottest new properties on the gaming landscape.