The entire point was to talk about the colossal leap forward in game adaptations from the days of the Bob Hoskin Super Mario Brothers absurdity to Amazon Prime’s Fallout.

The latter is sitting on 16 awards and nominations, while the former remains the butt of jokes, memes, and gifs to this day.

Once upon a time, Hollywood just wanted to cash in on a popular video game franchise.

Quality be damned. While the money factor hasn’t changed, Tinseltown now knows the audience is hypersensitive to adaptations of beloved franchises.

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Then, in the midst of prepping for this little shindig, Borderlands rears its ugly head to muddy the waters as arguably a match for the infamy of Super Mario Bros.

Despite Borderland’s prescient mockery of the above title, the show must go on, and there are still plenty of positive attributes to point to, especially when it comes to the small screen.

The Early Days of Video Game Adaptations

Saying “the early days” is kind of a misnomer.

Historical film gems like House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne, and Prince of Persia are all post-2000 releases. There’s more, but I might fall asleep listing them.

Prince of Persia wasn’t even decent enough to just be a bad movie. They had to go the extra mile and put Jake Gyllenhall, a man who bears no earthly resemblance to a prince of Persia, in the driver’s seat.

All 4,000 sequels to Resident Evil are fun to watch if you enjoy non-surgical lobotomies and electrical shock treatments. But you have to go back to the 1993 Super Mario Bros if you really want to feel your gray matter leak out through your nose.

It was a critical and commercial failure in every respect, yet video game adaptations continued throughout the ’90s and into the new millennia.

“Moderately” better is akin to the fan base being run over by a Humvee rather than a tank. The video game generation is largely misunderstood. Hollywood was far more interested in the popularity surrounding games rather than the “why” of it all.

Video Game and Film Development are Drastically Different

Without diving into the technological intricacies of video game adaptations, there are a few major differences between movies/TV and video game development.

Video games involve a lot more backtracking. Post-production and testing are extensive, especially in games with huge, intricate stories. Designers, developers, artists, and testers collaborate extensively.

Films are linear, and that includes even the most elaborate TV series.

Scriptwriting, storyboarding casting, location scouting, and planning are nominal parts of the process.

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The audience experience is markedly different as well, for obvious reasons. While movie and TV entertainment is linear, you must actively participate in playing a game.

Again, without delving too deeply into the sharply contrasting characteristics of development and participation in each entertainment venue, all of this is to say that video game adaptations are not easy — a far cry from adapting a book, comic, or graphic novel.

The Turning Point

The Witcher is the easiest of the successful video game adaptations to point to. However, it’s more of a hybrid book and video game reworking.

Castlevania was a critical and commercial success, needing only a four-episode first season for Netflix to green-light a second season. Two years later, The Witcher came along, and Arcane in 2021. All three are huge hits on Netflix.

All three also proved that the episodic format may be a better method for video game adaptations.

An episodic format provides more creative freedom to bring games with huge casts, extensive lore, and multi-faceted plot points into the world of film.

Amazon’s Fallout is a massive success, thanks to the showrunners avoiding the pitfalls of using existing characters and going with something set within the universe and lore but also apart, with new characters and a new story.

Secondly, and this is the challenging part, it means that you have to figure out how to translate to a passive medium, the essence of an interactive one. And to me, this is where Fallout has been particularly revelatory.

–Game Consultant, Tom van der Linden

On the movie side, Tomb Raider’s 2018 release proved that Hollywood can adapt a video game without turning it into a steaming pile of, well, you know.

Tomb Raider is not on the list of most successful adaptations, but it’s far better than Super Mario Bros.

Detective Pikachu did the same, though you can argue that it’s more of a hybrid, similar to The Witcher, with lore to draw from cards, games, and animated series.

Adaptations of SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog are moderately successful as well, enough to merit a third outing for Sonic in December.

The Case of Borderlands

We’re not out of the woods just yet, and Borderlands is another example of terrible decision-making in video game adaptations.

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I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I will keep my personal opinions to a minimum, but its 10% critic and 50% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes speak volumes.

So we could use certain things, but I didn’t want to have to be too slavish. I didn’t just want to film the game. We wanted to tell a great story on its own, but of course it’s loaded with Easter eggs for the fans. It’s a big movie.

-Director, Eli Roth

Well, fantastic job there, Eli.

There are currently seven Borderlands games on the market. These are huge games full of lore, characters, worlds, and plot points.

Condensing that into two hours is almost never advisable, yet Tinseltown continues to try. There are rare exceptions, but it’s safe to say that the episodic format is probably the future (at least the more successful future) of video game adaptations.

Borderlands serves as yet another example of how showrunners tend to disregard the vast differences between video game development and success versus filmmaking. It also sets the enthusiasm for adaptations back a step or a thousand.

The Future of Video Game Adaptations

Arcane was a fantastic first outing for Riot Games, and Season 2 is on the way this November. Christian Linke and Alex Yee (the creators behind the show) aren’t going anywhere just yet, and the first season’s success means they know their business.

Following Fallout’s success, a second season is a no-brainer. Prime already greenlit it back in April. An animated version of Tomb Raider is heading to Netflix as well, following the storyline of the reboot trilogy.

The success of Castlevania and Arcane shows that adults are more than willing to consume cartoon products and ask for more. Speaking of Castlevania, Castlevania: Nocturne will premiere on September 28, following the exploits of fan-favorite Richter Belmont.

One of the biggest franchises on the radar, however, is God of War, an immensely popular Sony franchise from Santa Monica Studios.

Similar to Fallout and The Witcher, God of War has a fan base that will tolerate zero major deviations unless they are done within character and make sense. Hopefully, Amazon is learning quickly from Fallout’s success and will do its due diligence regarding Kratos.

Ultimately, the rise of video game adaptations is almost wholly within the TV sphere, though there are sporadic helpings from the movie industry.

Fallout, Arcane, Castlevania, The Witcher, The Last of Us, and even Halo are proof positive that the small screen is a huge venue for these adaptations.

Despite decades of mediocre and downright awful adaptations on the big screen, things are looking up for those who want to see their favorite video game franchises find success on more than just one platform.

What are your favorite video game adaptations, and do you think mining the video game industry is good for TV? Let us know in the comments!

The post From Laughing Stock to Emmys: The Rise of Video Game Adaptations appeared first on TV Fanatic.

With Fallout’s massive success, it’s a no-brainer to pick up popular franchises like Warhammer, Mass Effect, and God of War. Amazon acquired God of War back in March 2022. Of course, studios acquire the rights to adaptations all the time.

That doesn’t necessarily mean anything will come of it, at least not for a while. They do some of it purely for competition, effectively removing a popular story from the board.

In the worst case, they sell it later for more than the original buying price. But with Amazon churning out fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming content, the God of War brand is ripe with advantage.

The God of War universe spans ten games, so Amazon has a lot of content and lore from which to draw. However, it looks like the primary focus will be on the most recent two games in the series, which tell a complete story from beginning to end.

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When Will God of War Begin Filming?

It’s a tad early to discuss when the series will release since filming is still a future prospect. What we do know is that work on the script began in January of 2024, if not a little earlier.

Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby are writing the script, with Cory Barlog serving as executive producer. Fergus has a long list of highly successful scriptwriting credits, including First Snow, Children of Men, Iron Man (the 2008 version), and The Expanse series.

Hawk Otsby is Mark Fergus’s other half, contributing to all of Fergus’s scripts. Cory Barlog is a well-known name among God of War fans since he was the lead animator for the original God of War and directed the second.

He also directed the first “reboot” in 2018 and was heavily involved in God of War: Ragnarok.

This was the scariest, most wonderful thing I have ever done and I can honestly say it would never have been possible without the full-throated support of Sony and the tireless work of the incredible team at Santa Monica Studio

-Cory Balrog

The script covers the most recent two games in the series — the so-called reboots — even though they are a direct continuation of Kratos’ adventures. Years, possibly decades, separate the current storyline from Kratos’ original storyline.

For those just dipping their toes into God of War for the first time, the storyline is expansive. Most of Kratos’ (the main character throughout the series) exploits occur in ancient Sparta.

However, the two most recent games have Kratos somewhere in Scandinavia (Northlands). This change of venue also brought a massive story change to the table.

A far more in-depth, nuanced, and personal Kratos emerges from the rage-filled, singular focus of his younger days, and this really opens up the playbook for the showrunners.

Where Can You Watch God of War?

God of War will only have one home, and that is Amazon. Development has been a long and convoluted ride, with nearly two decades of back-and-forth, up-and-down stages.

Development hell is nothing new for some of these larger franchises, and there is a lot of ground to cover with the story.

Amazon is investing heavily in game franchises, and the success of Fallout probably means a more concerted effort is on the horizon. Plus, there’s the competitive nature of the business.

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Netflix is busy with The Witcher, Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed, Beyond Good and Evil, and Horizon. Max has The Last of Us. Peacock has Twisted Metal. PUBG, Metal Gear Solid, Ghost of Tsushima, Sifu, Mortal Kombat 2, Portal, Death Stranding, Firewatch, and Minecraft are on the way as well.

Who is in the Cast of God of War?

Filling Kratos’ shoes will not be an easy feat. For those familiar with The Witcher series, the backlash against the casting of Liam Hemsworth as Geralt was significant.

Kratos is such a specific character that only a few actors will make sense to those familiar with the game.

Thus far, Amazon has not found that person. It’s just one of those things that Amazon cannot afford to get wrong. Christopher Judge voices the character and is definitely in the running.

Dwayne Johnson is a name floating around out there as well, though nothing has come of it.

Other names on the list include Jason Mamoa, Chris Hemsworth (uh…no, please), Dominic Purcell, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Dave Bautista (voice and mannerisms are way off), and Brandon White.

Brandon White is the only actor to physically play Kratos, with Christopher Judge voicing him. A live-action trailer for God of War: Ascension featured White in the titular character’s role. Granted, this was much earlier in Kratos’ life.

There are no casting rumors for any of the other characters, at least not yet. Some interesting theories are floating around the web, but nothing concrete.

Who Are The Showrunners Behind God of War on Amazon?

As mentioned above, Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby are penning the script, with Cory Barlog (probably the only person on the planet with the most experience with God of War) filling the executive producer role.

Rafe Judkins is currently in the director’s chair for those familiar with Amazon’s Wheel of Time series. Judkins has plenty of experience working with Sony as a writer with Playstation Productions.

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Santa Monica Studios is also sending over some of its own talent, including Yumi Yang and Jeff Ketcham as executive producers with Barlog.

Roy Lee, Carter Swan, and Asad Qizilbash also joined Balrog in the executive producer role. It all adds up to an extensive resume, with well-known franchises in the mix, especially video game adaptations such as The Last of Us and Uncharted.

What Direction Will God of War Take?

Kratos is essentially an anti-hero. As a Spartan warrior, the Greek god Ares tricked him into murdering his wife and child.

His infamous pale complexion is the result of the village oracle, forever marking him by covering his body in the ashes of his dead wife and child.

As a result of Ares’ trick, Kratos renounces him and goes to war against him. While the plot is more sophisticated than what’s written here, Kratos’ acts escalate into an all-out war against the Greek gods, eventually ending in their deaths, laying waste to the surrounding lands as a consequence.

Kratos’ story picks up an unspecified number of years later in the Northlands. He remarried, and his wife passed away, leaving him to care for and raise his son, Atreus. This is where Amazon chose to focus.

While that choice is the right one, it also means Kratos will arrive on the scene with a lot of backstory to cover.

The 2018 and 2022 God of War games, which are the focus of the upcoming series, are two parts of a single story about the father-son dynamic.

The catalyst is the death of Atreus’ mother, and the inciting event involves a stranger arriving at Kratos’ and Atreus’ door as the two are still in mourning, preparing for a journey to spread her ashes.

Kratos and Atreus become embroiled in the affairs of the Nordic gods at a moment when Kratos is trying to learn how to be a father despite his horrific past — a past abundant with violence, the death of his daughter, and mindless vengeance.

It’s an epic tale that takes a story as old as time itself and imbues it with fascinating characters steeped in Greek and Norse lore.

When Will God of War Release?

The release date of God of War is known only to Amazon, at least right now. Besides, the showrunners at Amazon probably only have a loose idea themselves.

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We don’t know for sure if the script is completely written, needs rewrites, or will fill in as filming kicks off. According to Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios’ Head of Television,

We do incredibly well with adaptations, from Invincible to The Boys . I mean, we just covered so many of them, right? And so we know that there’s such a passionate fan base for God of War . But the thing that we’re always looking for is whether there is a real emotional core, if there’s a real narrative story, and I think that’s part of what makes God of War so special.

Sticking close to the source material will help expedite the script. It’s more a matter of converting the video game to live.

As for now, we’re still waiting on the pilot order. Considering the level of expertise behind the script, God of War will likely get the green light from Amazon any day.

How Many Episodes Will God of War Season 1 Have?

There is no information on the number of episodes Season 1 will have. Judging by The Boys, Fallout, and other popular series on Prime, eight is the magic number.

It’s likely that God of War will have eight episodes, but there’s always a chance it will have more or less, depending on budget, scheduling, etc.

Are you a fan of the God of War franchise? Will this series be on your must-watch list? Let us know in the comments, along with the direction you would like to see Kratos and Atreus take!

The post God of War: Everything We Know So Far About Amazon’s Adaptation appeared first on TV Fanatic.

For all of Amazon’s endeavors to get a grip on the fantastical fiction of books and gaming arenas, Fallout finally hit the mark. Wheel of Time and Rings of Power are treading water despite critical success.

While those shows could learn something about built-in fanbases and adherence to the source material (as well as the show don’t tell method), Fallout chose the less-trodden path.

It may sound barbaric (sarcasm), but imagine taking something fans have loved for decades, incorporating a new storyline, and sticking to the feel and authenticity of the source material. The result? Fantastic levels of success. Shocking, right?

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The powers that be at Amazon are no fools. In their eyes, success will beget success. Amazon is scooping up some major video game franchises in an effort to capitalize on the mediocrity and deficiency of rival platforms, along with correcting their own mistakes.

The Video Game Franchises In Amazon’s Bag of Tricks

In many ways, video game adaptations are a lot like books. There are huge fanbases behind them, some for far longer than a non-gamer might expect.

The translation from game to video format is a little easier, thanks to similarities in structure, direction, and special effects.

Amazon picked up some big ones with long and storied histories and correspondingly huge followings. If Fallout is the blueprint moving forward, these franchises are in good hands.

Tomb Raider

For a while, Tomb Raider bandied back and forth, with the TV adaptation often falling under Netflix rather than Amazon.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with her experience as a director, writer, and executive producer from Fleabag and Killing Eve, will helm the adaptation.

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There may be some level of trepidation behind her choosing, as many blame her for single-handedly wiping out the latest Indiana Jones movie. Taking on a morally ambiguous role next to Indy didn’t sell well. However, acting and directing are two different things.

Killing Eve and Fleabag were both highly acclaimed shows, especially the latter. If she brings the same level of proficiency to Tomb Raider, the show will likely do well.

Warhammer 40,000

In December of 2022, Amazon acquired global rights to the Warhammer 40k universe, and two rather phenomenal things occurred not long after. First, Netflix and Henry Cavill parted ways, leaving the Witcher role in Liam Hemsworth’s hands.

Second, Amazon handed over one of the biggest video game and tabletop franchises to him, reportedly with all the creative freedom he wants. If there is one actor or actress from Tinseltown who will honor the source material, it’s Henry Cavill.

He will star in and executive produce the series. He’s also a well-known gamer with immense respect and love for the source material. Such experience is necessary because Warhammer is epic in terms of scale and lore.

God of War

Sony’s mega-franchise God of War is heading to Amazon as well. The upcoming series will focus on the 2018 game release. Of all the video game franchises in the works, God of War is the only one that probably has no grey area.

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It’s sink or swim, with an immense fanbase that isn’t likely to tolerate wholesale, unnecessary lore changes, and characters that hardly resemble their video game counterparts.

Wheel of Time’s Rafe Judkins is in the driver’s seat, which is concerning considering Wheel of Time is still struggling to find its footing.

However, the writers penning the script have plenty of solid work and experience under their belts. Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby are the scriptwriters behind Iron Man, Children of Men, and The Expanse.

Like a Dragon

Yakuza is one of the more successful video game franchises over the long term, with the series selling well over 20 million units since 2005. Amazon has two things working for it with Like a Dragon: The huge popularity and appeal of the franchise and the recent success of Shogun.

Shogun proves there is a marked interest in Japanese culture, and Like a Dragon brings more of that to the forefront. It’s a bit different from the fantasy and sci-fi elements of the above entries, focusing instead on crime, drama, and suspense.

Masaharu Take is in the director’s chair, and Ryoma Takeuchi is the primary character. Unlike God of War, Tomb Raider, and Warhammer, Like a Dragon has a release date of October 24.

Disco Elysium

This will be an interesting one. The game is an isometric tactical RPG without the fighting prevalent in games like Rogue Trader, Baldur’s Gate 3, and the Divinity series. Instead, you’re a detective in a fictional city ravaged by a recent revolution.

It’s an Indie hit and a cult favorite. How Amazon will translate a game of unique level progression and choices into a TV series is a fascinating thought experiment. In games like these, you can take things in a hundred different directions.

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It opens up a wide door for creative showrunners to play with, especially within an engrossing visual setting of historical fantasy.

Video Game Adaptations are Amazon’s MCU

To be fair, Amazon isn’t the only one latching onto multiple video game franchises. Netflix is adapting Bioshock, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed, and Gears of War. That’s not including Arcane and Castlevania.

But Amazon isn’t stopping with just the above list. Life is Strange, and It Takes Two are also somewhere in the development stage.

The world went through a two-decade-long fascination with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there is a fundamental difference between the MCU and game adaptations.

While consumers grow tired of exorbitant leotards and skin-tight outfits, video game adaptations offer wholly contained spheres.

One of the things that negatively impacts comic book stories is the sheer volume of it, the characters, the storylines, and the intersections.

On the other hand, Kratos’ Nordic universe and its characters limit God of War to a well-built and simpler world. If the story gets wild and out of hand, it’s because the showrunners are taking it in the wrong direction.

Couple this reduction in complexity with stories that are highly popular, and you’re cooking with gas.

Will the Fallout Formula Lead the Way?

This is the key. The biggest complaint (and it’s not even close) about major franchises today is the showrunner’s ability to turn it into a personal project, limiting the scope of the characters to reflections of the writer’s persona.

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The fans of video game franchises like Warhammer, Fallout, God of War, and so many others want to see the games they fell in love with, not the Hollywood version of famous skins draped over interlopers.

Fallout manages to satisfy fans without even bothering with well-known and well-loved characters. This is because the world is a character in its own right.

The bleached, irradiated terrain, a hodgepodge of dilapidated dwellings, and the desperate lives of those that people these worlds are a match for their video game counterparts.

Within such a sandbox, Amazon is free to create new characters and story arcs so long as they obey the rules of the original. Fallout’s success is due to this simple formula.

If Amazon can mimic it throughout the various acquired franchises, the level of success will be unrivaled.

Expect Even More

Last but not least is the unknown horizon. There is a sense of inevitability when it comes to major video game franchises, much like the MCU movies that led up to The Avengers.

It’s not just the fact that Amazon is making these acquisitions, either. Amazon’s competition is doing the same thing, with Netflix, Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ either with skin in the game already or working their way to it.

Hopefully, competition will breed quality, but it will certainly breed volume. Expect more and more game franchises to join the fray sooner rather than later.

The epic scope of the Divinity series or Baldurs Gate 3, the vast, surreal, and utterly dangerous world of Elden Ring, the planet-conquering politics of Helldivers, and the dark sci-fi of Metroid are too tantalizing to ignore.

It’s only a matter of time before things get really real and, hopefully, a lot of fun as well.

What video game franchises do you think are perfect for Amazon Prime? Let us know in the comments!

The post How Amazon Plans to Change the Game by Adapting Major Video Game Franchises appeared first on TV Fanatic.