Hollywood Is Leveling Up With Quality Video-Game TV Adaptations, and Fans Are Noticing | PRO Insight
“Resident Evil,” which premiered Thursday on Netflix, was the most-anticipated video game-based show of 2022, according to our company, entertainment data provider Whip Media.
We looked at data from millions of users of our TV Time app (which tracks movies and TV series) and found that “Resident Evil” narrowly edged past “Halo” in terms of fan anticipation within 30 days of its release date. And given that “Halo” was the largest original content premiere that Paramount+ has had to date, that’s saying something.
There’s also a lot of anticipation for TV’s video-game adaptations in general. In a recent survey conducted by Whip Media, 83% of the survey respondents said they were either very interested or interested in TV adaptations of video-game-related content.
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So why all this anticipation over TV’s video-game adaptations now?
Studios have long been interested in tapping the built-in fan base of video game franchises to sell box office tickets, especially during the summer when school is out. But the films have been more about harnessing the intellectual property and less about the quality — until the past few years. That’s something that I — and many other lifelong gamers — have been waiting an awfully long time to see.
Fortunately, a number of major 2022 releases, including hits like “Halo” on Paramount+, have highlighted how valuable quality video game-based IP can be. And there’s good reason to believe 2023 will be the biggest year yet for this kind of content.
This makes sense, considering video games continue to grow in popularity. According to research firm NPD, U.S. game sales hit a record $56.9 billion in 2020 and then eclipsed that with $60.4 billion in 2021. AAA franchises like “League of Legends,” “Fortnite,” “Halo,” “God of War,” “Assassin’s Creed” and many, many others are a natural fit for studios and streamers looking for high-impact IP due to their expansive worlds and rabid fanbases.
Recent hits like “The Witcher,” “Castlevania,” and “Arcane” demonstrate just how serious Netflix is about the space (with many more adaptations on the way). And there’s going to be an explosion of gaming-related content throughout 2023, as studios and platforms spend more resources on developing game-based franchises to compete in the streaming wars.
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So which game-based TV series could be the next mainstream hit?
We track demand for a show as TV Time users add these series to their own personal watch lists, which we call “Viewing Intent.” Where we see high interest for content that has yet to be released, we refer to that specific kind of intent as “Anticipation.”
HBO recently announced that their adaptation of the multi-award-winning Playstation game “The Last of Us,” starring Pedro Pascal, is coming soon. And believe it or not, the post-apocalyptic TV series set to air on HBO is tracking at a similar pace as the Disney+ “Star Wars” title “Obi-Wan Kenobi” was six months prior to its release. Given that only a couple of production stills of “The Last of Us” have been released to date, that’s impressive. To put it into further perspective, more people intend to view “The Last of Us” today than intended to view “Halo” one month prior to its release, or “Peacemaker” one week before it dropped on HBO Max.
There are dozens of other high-profile game adaptations in the works across many streaming platforms including “Fallout” on Amazon Prime Video along with the rumored “Mass Effect” and “God of War” series.
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Meanwhile, Netflix has announced “Assassin’s Creed,” “The Witcher” Season 3, “The Witcher: Blood Origin,” “Horizon Zero Dawn,” “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners,” “Splinter Cell,” “Tomb Raider,” and “Sonic Prime,” among others.
Peacock is throwing its hat in the ring with “Twisted Metal” starring Anthony Mackie, while Paramount+ is developing a “Sonic” Knuckles spin-off. And don’t forget the upcoming “Borderlands” movie from Lionsgate, directed by Eli Roth. Or…
Well, let’s stop there for now. Suffice it to say that we’re watching this space closely — and, if you’re not already, then you should probably start.
And if you’re a gamer looking for more ways to engage with the worlds you love outside of gaming, the future is looking genuinely bright.
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Vince Muscarella is vice president of sales for Whip Media, an audience data and enterprise software provider to major studios, networks, and platforms. After running digital distribution for a leading independent distributor before shifting to help measure the film and television space for Comscore, Muscarella now combines his knowledge of content distribution and media measurement (and video games and fantasy baseball) to bring unique insights to Whip Media’s solutions and clients.
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