The video game industry has certainly come a long way in the last decade or so, and in terms of revenue, it dwarfs the film industry worldwide. According to the Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry made around $30.4 billion in 2016 compared to $11.6 billion in box office revenue, and its high time that an Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for video games was put together.
The main benefit of such a project would be to highlight the hard work of the creators involved, which, similar to movies, can easily number in the hundreds or thousands. With that said, there is a website that looks like it would be a perfect fit for this -- IGDB.com. However, the site lacks details such as credit for individual contributions to each project.
This is not to say that IGDM lacks in other features. It still has records for around 225,000 games and includes some unique information, such as press kits. However, besides this, it contains fairly basic information about each title, with what appears to be few listing credits for devs.
Expanding or creating a site that more closely mirrors IMDb would provide a far more complete picture with regards to who exactly collaborated on a project -- from conceptual design, to sound and development. Clicking on a contributor’s profile would allow players to see what other titles they have also worked on, providing players with an in-depth look at the industry and the individuals responsible for certain projects.
Right now, it can be difficult to find this type of information, and more and more often, it seems like a prominent figure within the game development industry must pass away before their achievements are highlighted. This was the case in June of last year, when Patrick Munnik, lead producer at Guerrilla Games, passed away. Munnik was involved in several projects over the years, and most fans likely weren't aware of the breadth of his work until they read about his passing.
IMDb does not only include a compilation of creators, but also lists new and trending movies, a calendar of upcoming projects, and other statistics and trivia. The same could easily transfer over to a database dedicated to video games since there are always various games in development and release schedules are always jam-packed with upcoming titles.
This concept seems like something that should already exist when we consider just how large the market is for video games. Perhaps IGDB could be persuaded to include this kind of information. If not, it would not be surprising to see another the creation of another database that includes this information in the future as more and more video games release.