Where Does Video Game Adaptation Go From Here?
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While the video game trend has been on the rise for a long time, 2024 is likely to be one of the busiest years yet. Prime Video boasted Falling, Like a Dragon, again The secret level while Netflix plays Arcane’s last season too Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Sonic 3 he’s currently killing it in theaters, too The Borderlands…well, it came out. And that’s high-level stuff: you may or may not have forgotten that Dead Cells got an animated series in France, or that Paramount made a show Ark: Survival Evolved, which was incredibly delicious.
It is safe to say that Hollywood now hopes that video games can be a new driver of profit, especially since some of these shows have taken nominations for major awards and wins as well as 2023. Mario the film grossed over $1 billion in theaters. Actually, MarioIts success has led some to wonder if game adaptations will replace superhero movies as the new hotness, which seemed to be losing their luster before Deadpool and Wolverine this past summer. Like how 2025 will test if the heroes are really back, video games have heavy hitters that can decide how things go in the next few years: at the time of writing, we know to expect Devil May Cry adapting to new eras of The Last of Us again Castlevania: Nocturneplus Minecraft, Mortal Kombat 2, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, again Until Dawn on the big screen. Another previously announced modification of the Watchdogs, among us, and anything else that is TBD at the moment, if it exists at all.
In a way, things haven’t changed; go back a decade or two, and you’ll find plenty of movies or TV shows announced that never went anywhere. (For example, we read in November a film based on Splinter cell games-started being announced waaaaaaaaay back 2005-he was dead.) There’s always the chance that Netflix won’t do that Gears of War or BioShock previously announced movies, and Capcom’s Street Fighter film, and so on, as things go that way sometimes. But what strength give this new reboot of the game adaptation a better chance overall that a few developers are more involved in this; Nintendo was actively involved Mario the film and its future The Legend of Zelda movie, Capcom included Devil May Cry for that show’s executive producer Adi Shankar, and Naughty Dog studio boss Neil Druckmann directed and wrote several episodes of the show. The Last of Us series. Having developers in the kitchen is not important, but as the guiding hand of Riot Games Arcane shown, it would be a sell for fans of those games to know that the creators behind them aren’t just sitting around bouncing a check.
Another way the gameplay has changed? Many games benefit visually from this hitting the small or silver screen. Both It falls again The Last of Us they saw spikes in sales and player numbers after jumping into a new territory, even The Borderlands it won, despite his film not being a big star. Not all developers are completely forthcoming about the impact of this expansion, but what results there are shows that everyone can win from this. It’s something game publishers have picked up—The Shadow Generations I got a DLC pack with Keanu Reeves voicing the antihero hedgehog as he does Sonic 3and Epic Games released character skins Virtual Competition in the middle Fortnite before the long-running shooting episode The secret level.
Making games takes a lot of time these days, and as the number of game adaptations increases, the two will end up playing against each other. Others The secret level episodes focusing on games that have just come out or won’t be out for another few years; its a divisive episode, with a sci-fi horror theme Pac-Man ended up unexpectedly leading the way for next year’s action title Labyrinth of Shadow. Back in October, Sony released a remake of Until Dawn which seemed to be booming in sales, but will likely gain more traction when its movie debuts in April 2025 (or whenever it gets its first trailer). For that reason, it’s easy to imagine that Naughty Dog has spent the last five years grooming these two The Last of Us games so viewers of the show can fork over $60 or $70 to see how Ellie and Joel’s stories play out (and differ) in a video game. And knowing Nintendo, it probably doesn’t have a Mario game or three made specifically to coincide with 2026. Mario movie, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to have those on hand, right?
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As with superhero movies, game adaptations will go through a trial and error period as developers and Hollywood try to find some sort of happy medium. It won’t be without its downsides—right now, it’s unclear whether Riot will be able to deliver on its promise Arcane to be followed, and that means the same Castlevania: Nocturne Directors Sam and Adam Deats have asked fans to tune in for a second season next year as the crew waits to find out if they have been renewed. Both the gaming and film/TV industries have been remarkably quick to make big bets, and in a few cases, they’ve fallen short of what they (or anyone) expected. We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out—here’s hoping the collapse of the games-to-TV/film pipeline doesn’t take out a developer or film studio.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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