Photo: The Last of Us? Remastered.. Image Courtesy Sony Computer Entertainment America, LLC, Naughty Dog, Inc.
When making new TV shows, more studios are looking to video games
Over the past decade, more and more TV shows have been based off books. Now, a new trend is emerging: video games as source material.
Books have been serving as source material for movies for a long time, and more recently, we’re seeing more TV shows look to the written word for inspiration. Game of Thrones?is based on?George R.R. Martin’s?A Song of Ice and Fire?series,?Netflix’s?The Witcher?is based on?Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels, Starz’s Outlander?is based on Diana Gabaldon’s saga, and so on. Adapting book for the screen is a time-tested technique that’s worked for decades, and there’s plenty of beloved material to work with sitting on the shelves.
Speaking to The Verge, Hawk Otsby, a producer on Amazon’s?The Expanse, explained the benefits of adapting books rather than going with something original: ?It?s all about managing risk for the studios. It?s extremely difficult to sell a blockbuster original script today if isn?t based on some popular or recognizable material? Audiences know the story, so they?re sort of pre-sold on it. In other words, it has a recognizable [intellectual property] and can rise above the noise [and] competition from the internet, video games, and Netflix.?
But recently we’ve seen a lot more content creators willing to look to video games for source material. And why not? The business is booming.?According to Forbes,?“The video game industry is growing so fast that?some believe it will reach over $300 billion?by 2025, with billions of dollars in profit and?over 2.5 billion gamers around the world.”
Video game movies have a reputation for being mediocre cash grabs or complete train wrecks, but as a generation of people raised on video games begins to gain power in the industry, things could be changing, and the revolution could start on TV. HBO turned heads earlier this year when it announced?that Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin would be adapting Naughty Dog’s zombie apocalypse game?THE LAST OF US?for the network, in conjunction with the game’s creative director Neil Druckmann. The Last of Us?has?a memorable story with rich characters?and genuine emotional heft. If I were to pick any video game to adapt for TV, this is the one I’d pick; it sounds like it could be a perfect fit for HBO.
PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 27: Visitors queue to play the video game ‘Fallout 76’ developed and published by Bethesda Softworks during the ‘Paris Games Week’ on October 27, 2018 in Paris, France. ‘Paris Games Week’ is an international trade fair for video games and runs from October 26 to 31, 2018. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, over at Amazon, the creators of Westworld? are bringing us a show based on Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic?FALLOUT?series. The TV show will explore “the harshness of the wasteland set against the previous generation?s utopian idea of a better world through nuclear energy.” It’ll still remain the series’ trademark sense of black humor, though, including “moments of ironic humor and B-movie-nuclear-fantasies.?
Unlike The Last of Us, Fallout is an open-world game filled with lots of side quests and exploration. The show will have to be more creative about fashioning a linear narrative that brings this world to life.
Photo: FERRERO PARTNERS WITH SQUARE ENIX TO BRING SPECIAL DIGITAL CONTENT TO FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE FANS.. Image Courtesy Ferrero
For RPG fans, Square Enix is teaming up with Sony Pictures Television to make a live-action FINAL FANTASY?series.?The show will feature an original story set in the world of Eorzea, and will include?Final Fantasy?hallmarks like magic, airships and Chocobos.
Fans have wanted a live-action HALO?show for years, and Showtime is hoping to deliver with a show based on the popular Xbox sci-fi shooter.?Halo will dramatize “an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. [and] weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future,” according to the official release.
Resident Evil 3. Image Courtesy Capcom
Finally, Netflix is remixing Capcom’s zombie series RESIDENT EVIL?series for a new show set in multiple timelines, one before the T-virus decimates the world and one after.
And there are more series out there, including an anime take on the upcoming?Cyberpunk 2077?and a show based on the hit RPG?Disco Elysium.
Admittedly, a lot of these shows seem to have similar themes: life after the apocalypse is a common thread, whether it’s caused by zombies or nuclear war or societal rot. But it’s clear the dam has broken on studios and streamings looking at video games as legitimate places to draw stories from, and with the right people involved (plus all the money content creators are pouring into their projects to make sure they stand out from the pack), there’s a good chance some of these shows will turn well.
And if they do, we can expect even more video game adaptations on TV in the future. Video games aren’t as old as books, but they’re proving just as useful for studios looking for the next big show.
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