Is America the only "Western" country that makes good video games, and movies?

[Jersovic]

I'm just curious because I hear a lot of European gamers constantly ragging on American gamers, and find it a bit ironic because they are playing an American game. Do they not have their own games that they can go play, or is America the only country outside of Asia that develops decent video games?

As far as film goes, I have been watching a lot of "Foreign Critically Acclaimed" films on my Netflix account, and the only movies outside of America that I have enjoyed so far have been from Asia.

I'm starting to wonder if America is the world's #1 leader in creating "entertainment," IE. Films, Video Games etc. and that the rest of the Western world doesn't even waste their time with it?

[ishootblanks]

Americans have the extra money laying around to afford to invest that much into entertainment..

aside from that.. some of the scandinavian nations make some fun little games.. Magicka is pretty fun.. it's Swedish..

government and political structure also affects creativity..

[haxartus]

Ubisoft says hello.

[frozenkex]

CDprojekt, witcher 2

[Easo]

Ubisoft? CD Projekt?

[Sarojini]

Once upon a time there was this French company called Vivendi...

[Amsden]

Battlefield 3 wasn't made by Americans.

[Loaf Lord]

Ubisoft says hello.

Ubisoft is in America too.

[Deleted]

With movies yes, absolutely. I don't even remember the last time I watched a non-American movie. However there are lots of big game developers in EU. For example, Witcher is made by a Polish company. And there's a ton more, like Nival and Ubisoft etc.

[Loaf Lord]

Didn't Bioware used to be Canadian only?

[cFortyfive]

Crytek - crap from Germany. But I guess in line with most titles nonetheless.

Ubisoft is in America too.

ehm...and so ?

[Holy Popcorn]

As other have said, CD Projekt and I'd like to add Taleworlds, they're a turkish company, they made Mount & Blade which is awesomeness in game form.

[Dragore]

We have entertainment. Europe has design...how i would love to spend time in UK and/or Germany

[gamma Ray]

You are just missing the mark on this by a lot. Film companies, video game companies are built off of years of experience and money. Many movies are made by American companies because they have the most money to invest, like a previous poster said. Many of the movies you have seen in the past were made by people who weren't American, but American company bought the rights to make the movie so technically the movies are American. Also much of what you watch and play are based on things that are written long ago. LOTR, Harry Potter, so so many other movies and games, those aren't American. But the adaptations and games we play are made by companies that have their money in America.

[xlord]

eve online is from Iceland. not sure if it also started there but the fanfest is in Iceland so guess they are from that remote place as well.

[Deleted]

Rockstar Games is British as is there number one product Grand Theft Auto.

[haxartus]

Ubisoft is in America too.

It's not an American company.

[Deleted]

wel it seems you have no ideea how games are made for movies i agree but for games....you think EA or Ubisoft is only in america and only american developors create games? if you think like that you are very wrong for example did you know that FIFA is made in Romania all the developors and QA are in Romania. Same goes for Assasins Creed there are a lot of games made in EU and no offence to the Americans but in general we EU people are a lot more creative with less resourcess.

[Kalyyn]

I believe what you're seeing stems from two reasons.

1- America has a pretty massive population. We're the largest western nation by a very wide margin.
2- We're capitalists. While people in socialist countries have most of their income taken and put into public projects, Americans keep most of their money and spend it on entertainment. Thus it is far more profitable to make movies in America that it is in Europe. For that same reason, European producers come to America to make their movies, so they can keep more of the money for themselves.

I honestly am the furthest thing from an expert in this area, but these felt like pretty logical conclusions, yeah?

[Jersovic]

I see what you guys are saying, but I was thinking more along the lines of "online" games and probably should have said that. Like I play World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Rift, SW:ToR, Call of Duty, Battlefield etc. All of these are main stream games and from what I understand (I could be completely wrong) are from American companies. I am not downplaying the success of titles like Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, or Farcry, but single-player oriented games I think are a completely different genre (most online gamers don't play them).

Secondly, most of Vivendi itself has never developed any video games, they purchased video game companies (IE. Activision - Blizzard) who were already successful, American video game companies long before they came into the picture.

I am wondering if there are any "online games" that have been produced by a European country? I'm thinking that "EVE" game might be from EU, but I'm not sure.