Today it was announced that the folks over at Lionsgate have made the decision to expand into the video game industry. Lionsgate has brought in Peter Levin, co-founder and CEO of Nerdist, to lead their video games division.

Lionsgate is the company that has brought series like The Hunger Games and Twilight to the silver screen. They’re also behind quite an impressive number of television series as well, currently 33 of which are airing on 22 different channels. That said I don’t think that Lionsgate would have problem finding something to adapt into a game.

This move seems to have been prompted by the fact that the video games industry is one of growth. It’s popular and constantly getting more and more so. However it is also a “dangerous and competitive territory” to step foot in as Takahashi puts it. Such danger and competition is what led Lionsgate to take on Levin.

Levin has an equally impressive resume as Lionsgate when it comes to ventures within the video game space. He’s invested or worked with 11 different technology inclined groups already which really gives some gravity to his being suited for the position. Gamespy Industries, Rovio Entertainment (Angry Birds), and Disney are just a smattering of the experiences that Levin has under his belt.

Not all film makers have had smooth ventures like this one. Hopefully Lionsgate’s time in the industry we so love will be more like what Warner Bros. has been able to accomplish and less like Disney who have unfortunately suffered heavy layoffs in their games division as of this year.

My Opinion:

I believe that Lionsgate may have made a good decision here. They’ve got the backing of their IPs to provide them with titles as well as the experience and know-how that Levin will provide them. He seems to have a pretty good track record when it comes to having the spot-on intuition that leads him to successful properties. The truth is that only time will tell if Lionsgate ends up being the next Warner Bros. or resembles Disney. Of course we hope for the former.

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Myles K Farrington is a new writer on the MONG team and a rather dapper fellow. Keep up with him over at IGN as well!