From Sony’s Resident Evil film reboot to A24’s Death Stranding and Story Kitchen’s Split Fiction, it seems video game movies and TV adaptations are a dime a dozen these days, which shouldn’t be surprising considering the massive success of films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the Sonic franchise. However, according to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, not every video game needs a film or TV counterpart, although he promises more adaptions are coming for Microsoft’s IPs.
“The video game business is successful by itself. It doesn’t need this outlet.” Spencer told Variety when asked on the potential IPs that could see an adaptation, “Let’s never turn this into something where it has to get done, every franchise has to have a game or a movie or a TV show, and it becomes more like licensing. It’s got to be about the creative outlet that linear media offers for our franchises.
Despite this statement, one can’t deny that Microsoft is raking in the cash from their own recent video gaming adaptations, with A Minecraft Movie striking gold at the global box office by surpassing the US$550 million milestone two weekends after its premiere in April. The studio has also received its fair share of success on the small screen, with season one of its Fallout TV series becoming a critical hit among audiences and critics alike, with a second season currently in production. Even Halo, which wasn’t as well-received, still managed to gain a two-season run on Paramount Plus.
Perhaps because of these successes, and even after suggesting that video games don’t actually need to be turned into movies or TV shows, Spencer went on to tease that there are more adaptions of Microsoft’s games currently in the works, explaining that the team has learnt from the lessons gained from making the aforementioned Halo and Fallout series.
“I think what I’d say to the community that likes this work is, you’re going to see more, because we’re gaining confidence, and we’re learning through this.” Spencer explained, “It’s hard for me to tease any specific thing, because while I know all of these things that are in the creative process, I want to give them time, and I don’t want to put any undue pressure on them… There’s just a lot of interest from traditional media and we’re happy about that.”
As to which games in Microsoft’s catalogue are set to receive an adaptation, Spencer understandably stayed mum. To be fair, despite his conflicting viewpoints, the studio does possess some IPs which would make an interesting transition to both the big and small screens, such as the recently released South of Midnight, which provides ample opportunities to explore the rich Southern folklore and capitalise on its unique stop-motion-esque aesthetic, or even The Outer Worlds, its space-faring RPG franchise that features a blend of action, politics and trademark humour perfect for a dark comedy series. The possibilities are there, that’s for sure, but it’s up to Microsoft to handle the eventual execution to determine if it will replicate its recent success or repeat past failures.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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