Starting last year, and bleeding into this year, characters from the Terminator film series have been appearing in several recent video games. Gears 5 and Mortal Kombat 11 featured Terminator characters as DLC. In January, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Breakpoint had a limited-time Terminator-themed event. Why do all these Terminator crossovers keep happening? What caused them, and, why do they work so well?
The Terminator series has been going since the mid 80's. It received its true popularity after the release of the second film, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which made the series an iconic piece of sci-fi fiction. Since then, various sequel films, TV series, comics, and games have continued the series' story. In 2019 the latest film in the series, Terminator: Dark Fate, was released. Dark Fate was a go at rebooting the franchise. It was written as a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which set some high expectations for sci-fi fans. To make sure Dark Fate was as successful a possible, Paramount Pictures had a strong marketing push for the film, which included the series being used for several crossovers in recent video games.
The first recent Terminator crossover appearance was in Gears 5. While revealing Gears 5 multiplayer during E3 2019, a surprise trailer played revealing a Terminator character pack as a pre-order bonus for the game. The trailer was formatted like the iconic intro scene from Terminator 2; a panning shot of a mountain of skulls is shown, and one skull is crushed by the robotic foot of a T-800. Sarah Connor and T-800 endoskeleton were included as character skins for the game's launch, and later on another pack containing skins for Rev-9 and Grace Harper were released.
Other Terminator Crossover Video Games
While Gears 5 just included Terminator characters as cosmetic skins, Mortal Kombat 11 has a more in-depth crossover. In Mortal Kombat 11, T-800 is a fully unique playable fighter released as a DLC pack. Unlike Gears 5, Mortal Kombat's T-800 has Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness and is not just an endoskeleton (although Schwarzenegger does not provide the in-game voice, as the voice performance was done by Chris Cox). T-800's move set uses various weaponry from the film series, including his Ion Grenade. Mortal Kombat is a series well-known for its crossovers with other franchises, and several of the DLC characters in Mortal Kombat 11 are guests such as Joker and Spawn.
Terminator's most recent video game crossover was in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint, where a limited time event ran featuring a Terminator-inspired story, daily missions, and unlockable items. Unlike the previous two crossovers, the Terminator presence in Ghost Recon borrowed less directly from the films. The event used T-800 terminators as enemies, but did not use Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness for them. The event's story focused on an original character named Rasa Aldwin, who is a member of the Skynet Resistance, sent back in time to get the help of the Ghost team to save the future from a Terminator uprising. For completing tasks during the event time, players were rewarded with Terminator-themed cosmetics and weapons.
As a marketing push for Terminator: Dark Fate, the film's characters were implemented into many game franchises. While it may be seen as pure product placement, the crossovers were handled quite well. These crossovers are fan service for Terminator series fans, and simply additional playable content for players unfamiliar with the series. With its sci-fi world, iconic designs, and tense action, Terminator is a natural fit for video games.