GAMING IP INDUSTRY
VIDEO GAME ADAPTATIONS tend to hit all four quadrants ”
developers. Sometimes, these folks will serve as showrunners or executive producers; such was the case with The Last of Us ’s Neil Druckmann, who served as writer, director, EP, co-creator and co- showrunner on the first two seasons. “Who remembers back in the nineties, the Street Fighter movie? That didn’t go down too well, right?” asked HaZ Dulull, filmmaker and game director at Beyond the Pixels, during a gaming IP panel at Focus 2026. “That’s because the Hollywood studio made the movie and didn’t involve the creators at all. Flash forward to today, you have Sonic , you have Mario – two movies that have done really well – and Minecraft . The difference is that the studios didn’t just license the IP; they reached out to the developers and said, ‘We want to play in your world. Come collaborate with us.’” It also helps that video games, unlike books, are an inherently visual medium. For those who both played The Last of
Us (game series) and watched The Last of Us (TV series), they may have noticed certain frames were almost identical matches. “Director Mark Mylod and I watched the game together,” said Catherine Goldschmidt, the show’s DOP, in a previous interview. “In the game, when Joel dies, it’s a oner and we knew we would depart from this. For those who played the game, the question was: are While existing fans might be hard to please (many didn’t love the creative liberties taken by The Last of Us ’s production team), they’re also more invested in the material – and therefore more likely to put their money behind it. Sequels and adaptations are a relatively low-risk endeavour for studios (perhaps less so for the filmmakers themselves) who are trying to put bums on seats; if a video game is a best-seller, its adaptation probably will be too. This is true across the board. Take Disney, which has produced a steady stream of live-action adaptations of its we going to do it justice?” APPEALING TO ALL AGES
animated classics, including The Lion King , The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast and Snow White . It’s a tumultuous time for the industry, and existing IP eliminates uncertainty. Video game adaptations tend to hit all four quadrants, appealing to people across genders and age groups. “Peak IPs are now multi-generational,” said Danwen Huang, project coordinator at Games London, at Focus 2026. Finally, video game development and filmmaking are starting to merge thanks to advancements in virtual production. Unreal Engine by Epic Games powers artists and other VFX specialists tasked with designing photoreal backgrounds for LED volumes. If the tools and skills are transferable, why not the medium? In an industry rife with sequels, prequels and spin-offs, adaptations aren’t going anywhere. While novels and stage plays have seen their share of screen time, video games are on the rise, offering low commercial risk for studios, a solid visual foundation for filmmakers and a chance to engage existing and emerging fans alike.
A NEW AGE The Last of Us (top left) and A Minecraft Movie (top right) are smash hits
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