Recent video game adaptations such as The Last of Us have further proved how the genre's future lies in the medium of TV rather than film adaptations. For many years, cinema was often seen as having a curse over it. That curse was aimed squarely at video game adaptations, stating that this particular type of film was destined to fail in terms of quality and critical reception.

While some video game movies in recent years have certainly bucked this trend, contrary to popular belief, it remains clear that the future of video game adaptations lies on TV. More so than their film counterparts, TV adaptations of video games have gone above and beyond in terms of quality. This proves how most video games should be adapted into TV shows, rather than the frequently poor movie versions.

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Why Video Game Movies Have Struggled

Firstly, it is worth stating that several video game movies have done well commercially. Films such as Rampage, Warcraft, The Angry Birds Movie, the Resident Evil franchise, and the various Tomb Raider adaptations have all performed well at the worldwide box office. However, the box office has rarely been considered the way video game movies have failed, with the quality of the films and their respective poor critical reception largely being where movies based on video games have struggled.

These aforementioned movies have often received mixed-to-negative critical responses. Rampage and Warcraft, for example, received critic ratings of 51% and 29% respectively, despite the latter currently holding the record of the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. The Angry Birds Movie received a rotten score also, sitting at 43%. The Resident Evil movie franchise was also a critical failure, with the series never receiving a score higher than 37% after seven installments. Finally, the Tomb Raider films featuring Angelina Jolie received 20% and 24% respectively, before the 2018 reboot received a critic score of 53%.

These are only a few examples from the vast video game movie adaptation catalog, yet each one has failed in terms of its critical reception. The reason for this largely stems from a failure to adapt the stories of the games successfully. This, or adapting a game that did not warrant an adaptation in the first place, such as Rampage or Angry Birds, has often been the reason for video game movies' struggles. That being said, most of these films have been well-received by audiences for one reason or another, primarily the well-known IPs of the games on which they are based, such as The Angry Birds Movie.

That also is not to say every video game adaptation has been a critical failure, with recent years seeing a notable upturn in this department. This began with Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and The Angry Birds Movie 2 in 2019 which saw critical ratings of 68% and 73% respectively. This meant that 2019 was the first time any Hollywood movie based on a video game received a fresh rating, which only continued in 2020 and 2022 with Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Finally, 2021's Werewolves Within saw a critic rating of 86%, solidifying the upturn in movie adaptations successes.

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Video Game Adaptations On TV Have Broken The Curse Multiple Times

Trevor Belmont from Netflix's Castlevania, Vi from Netflix's Arcane, and David from Netflix's Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

While the recent movie adaptations of games have been better received, there are still only five movies with positive critic ratings, leading many to believe the quality curse of video game adaptations remains. However, more so than any movie adaptation, recent TV shows based on video games have broken the curse time and time again. One of the earlier shows that proved this was 2017's Castlevania on Netflix. The show ran for four seasons and holds an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 94%.

From the animation, themes, characters, voice-acting, action sequences, and writing, Castlevania received critical acclaim across the board and provided the first truly great video game adaptation. This unfortunately went under the radar due to its TV roots, which continued with 2019's The Witcher. While recent updates on The Witcher have caused the excitement surrounding it to wane somewhat, the first two seasons of the show were well-received by critics and audiences alike.

Another two exceptional video game adaptations came from Netflix in the form of TV shows; Arcane and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Both series' hold 100% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and are two of the best-reviewed animated shows in history, not even confined to the genre of video game adaptations. Arcane was based on League of Legends and Edgerunners the titular Cyberpunk from CD Projekt Red. Both were praised for their unique animation styles, and how well they crafted intensely engaging characters within the worlds of their respective games.

Each of these adaptations worked over potential movie versions for one simple reason: TV's allowance of long-form storytelling. The majority of critically-panned video game movies have attempted to adapt games ranging anywhere between 10-50 hours in length, as well as game universes that hold deep, well-written lore. Naturally, these long stories and expertly realized worlds do not translate well when crammed into 90-120 minute runtimes of films - as evident by 2022’s Uncharted starring Tom Holland, for example. TV removes this issue altogether, allowing much greater freedom for creators to adapt stories and universes from games over a longer period of time.

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The Last Of Us Is Proof Of How Big Video Game Adaptations Can Be

Joel and Ellie in the snow in The Last of Us

Another video game adaptation on TV is HBO's The Last of Us, which is proving how big video game adaptations can truly be. The series is being very well-received by critics, holding a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not only this, but the series is breaking HBO records with audiences. The Last of Us episode 2 saw the largest-ever viewership growth from a series' premiere to its second episode for a drama series. This is only going to prove just how appealing video game adaptations can be to wider audiences if made with the same quality as TV often allows, and exemplified by The Last of Us season 1.

Upcoming Video Game Adaptations Show TV Is The Future

Kratos from God of War 2018 with Ezio from Assassin's Creed

This positive trend for video game adaptations on TV looks to be only continuing in the future. Amazon Prime is one streaming service that is leaning into TV adaptations of video games. From God of War to Fallout and Mass Effect, the service will be looking to continue what the likes of Netflix and HBO have started. Regarding Netflix, the streaming behemoth looks to be leading the way in terms of upcoming TV video game adaptations. The service is currently developing adaptations of games such as Horizon Zero Dawn, Gears of War, Tomb Raider, and Assassin's Creed. This is not to mention follow-ups to The Witcher, Arcane, and Castlevania.

Paramount is also looking to capitalize on the success of their Sonic the Hedgehog films, by creating a Knuckles TV show for Paramount+. This will be produced alongside season 2 of the fairly well-received TV show Halo which premiered on the streaming service in 2022. All of this just goes to show that Hollywood is finally catching on to the inescapable truth that TV is the future for video game adaptations, as solidified by the success of 2023's The Last of Us among others.

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