Way before console games and game consoles existed, expensive cable channels and TV networks have become accustomed to the idea of “exclusives”, often essential to promoting their brand and commercial awareness. Now, Microsoft has secured a deal to offer a British indie comedy as the first exclusive movie for the Xbox 360.
The new movie, titled ‘Pulp’, is a new indie British comedy depicting a struggling comic book creator who was unexpectedly recruited by the police to put an end to a crime syndicate. Much like the movie’s main character, the creator of the indie movie, already shortlisted in many film festivals, was approached by Microsoft in order to boost the Xbox 360’s online content.
Instead of shipping the movie straight to DVD, or organizing the distribution himself, Adam Hamdy, signed a deal with Microsoft, relying on the 77 million Xbox 360 owners around the world to make his title successful. According to Hamdy, there is an increasing difficulty for titles with low or medium-sized budgets to find a distribution channel, making the Xbox 360 an appealing option:
“At the top end of the indie film business the UK is still pretty healthy, but it’s the middle tier and the lower budget tier that’s struggling.”
This new indie film is definitely a perfect fit for Xbox 360 gamers, most of which are great fans of comic books and superheroes, and likely have that inner wish of selling comic books of their own. Microsoft is clearly supportive of this new title, highlighting the benefits that it brings to emerging British talent:
"All our audience like that sort and types of film and it’s great to support British talent."
This new title will be available in its entirety from Xbox LIVE’s Video app and Xbox Marketplace. According to Microsoft, this is the first of many exclusives that will soon be available through the same means, and definitely bringing users of the console some joy and laid-back entertainment between gameplays. More importantly, however, this new strategy has the potential to do a great deal to spur young film making talent all over the world, bringing some indie artists from obscurity into a thriving audience of avid Xbox LIVE users.
(Source: Pulp for Xbox on Xbox LIVE Marketplace)
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