G4 Still The Network For Gamers
When Charles Hirschhorn, along with business partner Ted Crosley, created the G4 TV network in 2001, they intended to create the first network for video gamers, a network that would be a one-stop source for game news, reviews, and strategy information, and possibly even break new ground for the times of programs that could be shown about video games. Now in its fifth year on the air, G4 hasn't succeeded in all of its goals, but it's well on its way. The network has seen its ratings hold steady and even increase as it's gained subscribers, and has recently passed the milestone of being in 50 percent of all homes subscribing to cable. Not only is it a success as a premium cable network, it's being added to numerous basic cable packages, with more homes signing on daily. Among the highest rated shows on the G4 network are a pair of reality shows: The Pitch and The Crunch, shows chronicling the struggles and creative processes of game developers in the industry.
The Pitch, which has been G4's highest rated show since 2003, recently launched its first console game: the adventure title Opacity. Created by a team of five young developers led by Abe Stockham, Opacity features four adventurers trapped together in a dungeon who must discover each other and escape. It's already been acclaimed as one of the year's best games, and if it proves to be a sales success, The Pitch could become what series creator Ted Crosley stated that he hoped it would become in a 2003 interview: "the American Idol of video games". Whether or not Opacity will be the Carrie Underwood of the gaming industry has yet to be seen, but so far, it's getting a better reception from game critics than Underwood has received from the music industry.
Then there's the more controversial but also most acclaimed of the two shows: The Crunch, which is a slice-of-life reality show that brings cameras into the game development studio and follows the work of the teams that put video games together. The original season of The Crunch followed the development of the game Invisible Soul, a sort of Devil May Cry-inspired hack and slash being developed for consoles by the independent studio Malthus Games. The show started out following only indie studios, but as the show's success has grown, The Crunch got its first chance to look behind the curtain of a larger studio, profiling the development of Rare's VeloCity in 2004. The show is named after and has brought attention to the practice of "crunch", where developers are required to put in long hours to finish up a game for a deadline. It's a controversial practice that, as the program has shown, has proven to be detrimental to the physical and mental health of the developers who work under it. Crosley has stated that "showing the practice of crunch has brought to light the true cost of gaming, and just what these big tentpole games are demanding of the people who make them". While the program has yet to lead to any meaningful change in the game industry, it has gotten a few large companies, including Activision, to speak up on the practice, with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stating in a November 2005 interview that: "we are re-examining some of our game development practices, in the hopes of maintaining a developer base capable of producing quality games in the future".
G4 has garnered a fandom not unlike that of MTV's GameTV, which aired from 1995-2000 and is considered to be a cultural touchstone of the late 1990s. While no G4 show has yet garnered the viewership that GameTV has, the network has gotten similar praise for some of its programs, including the oddball news/variety show Focus, the Saturday Night Live-esque sketch show Gamerippers, and Multiplayer Mode, a reality competition show that sees teams of gamers participating in a series of challenges in order to win a $500,000 grand prize and the title of Gamer Gods. As a reflection of G4's recent success, Multiplayer Mode's grand prize started off as $200,000, but more than doubled for the most recent season. G4 has also acquired the rights to a few classic video game cartoons, including the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon. The biggest prize on that front, however, has alluded the network thus far: "We tried to get the late 90s Zelda," said Ted Crosley, "but that one's owned by Disney and they're airing it on their Toon Disney channel, which I can't really blame them for."
G4 is one of the fastest growing premium cable networks, and its streak of success doesn't seem as if it'll be ending anytime soon, which will open the doorway for more acquisitions, bigger names, and bigger budgets. No matter what success comes G4's way, Crosley says that he hopes to keep it true to its roots, and the #1 place for gamers on television.
"As long as I have a say, we'll be the network for gamers," said Crosley. "We're bringing in plenty of them so far."
-from an article in the June 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly
