FRUKT’s Post

Great insights from #transmedia pioneers @ Skybound on how to maintain appeal while adapting an interactive medium like #videogames into a passive one like #Films/TV #series. Goldman highlights how paramount intrinsic game and show quality are to the initiative's success, and how day & date transmedia releases do not necessarily serve the wider franchise and may even be detrimental to multiplayer social games / live service #IPs a la #Fallout. A few personal favorites: - "Focus on the bedrock of [your] franchise – the video games themselves – before seeking expansion elsewhere. [...] If you don't have an awesome game, you don't have any advantage in making a TV show compared to any completely original pitch from somebody else. " - "There's this concept of ‘primary and ancillary’ but you can't think that way anymore – everything is primary. [...] If you have a great show and you make an okay game, the gamers are going to roast you, and if you have a great game and you make an okay show, no one's gonna watch it." Looking forward to future developments in that space! Full article available here: https://lnkd.in/e3Z5U_gd #entertaintment #marketresearch #gaming #movies #franchises

From The Economist: Converting pixelated adventures to live-action narratives long defeated scriptwriters in Hollywood, resulting in turkeys like “Street Fighter” (1994) and “Doom” (2005). The developer of one celebrated game confides that its silver-screen adaptation around a decade ago was the worst movie he had ever seen. But now studios are reworking games and finding commercial and critical success. Last year “The Super Mario Bros” was the second-highest-grossing film at the worldwide box office. “The Last of Us”, a tv show based on a Playstation game, won a haul of Emmy awards. More game adaptations are on the way: IGN Entertainment, an #entertainment website, counts more than 70 games in development for #film or #tv What explains the enthusiasm for these game-shows? One reason is that Hollywood’s favourite source of creative material, comic books, is getting boring. For two decades the box office has been ruled by superheroes. But more recently each Marvel film has seemed to be less successful and lauded than the last. “The Marvels”, released in November, was the lowest-grossing so far. Games offer an alternative: “A deep well of franchises, a built-in audience, years of storylines and endless spin-off franchise possibilities,” says Fred Black of Ampere Analysis. The pioneers of the new wave of adaptations have been Amazon and Netflix. These streaming companies, relative newcomers to Hollywood, have been on a commissioning binge to attract subscribers. Unlike older rivals such as The Walt Disney Company, which owns Marvel Entertainment, they have a limited archive of intellectual property. “Most of the comic franchises were already owned, so they needed to find something else,” says Mr Black. Changes in the #gaming world have also helped. The game-playing public has ballooned, thanks to smartphones (which put a miniature console in everyone’s pocket) and the covid-19 pandemic (which created millions of new gamers through sheer boredom). Big titles like “Minecraft” are played by more than 100m people each month, guaranteeing a large potential audience for film spin-offs. The broader and ageing pool of gamers makes it easier to get video-game projects greenlit in #Hollywood. Previous generations of producers were befuddled by youngsters’ games; today’s moguls grew up playing them. For all the recent hits, game adaptations are not yet such reliable performers as superheroes. Paramount’s “Halo” and Netflix’s “Resident Evil” did not live up to expectations. The biggest hits, says Mr Black, tend to be either so well known that even non-gamers recognise the brand (think “Mario”, “Sonic” or “Angry Birds”), or so engaging that their digital origin ceases to matter

Video games and visual media have gone hand-in-hand for years, and we've been blessed with some awesome adaptations in recent years. Looking at you, #TheLastofUs and #Fallout 👀. It feels as though popular media franchises are bleeding their way into video games, and vice versa, more than ever. With the recent announcement of The Sims movie, and The Ghost of Tsushima not so long ago, the trend appears to show no signs of stopping. With that in mind, is it a long-term sustainable collaboration? Or is it more a reflection of the lack of truly new and unique IPs? https://lnkd.in/eiAu9-f7

Explore our new The MCA Prodcast episode, where we delve into the concept of the democratization of assets. Imagine the ability to pool resources across #film, #TV, #gaming, and #advertising, enabling producers to source and share materials seamlessly. This grants instant and cost-effective access to #sets and #environments, potentially transforming our industry significantly. In this episode, we explore the impact this revolution could have on advertising production and the creative process. Join us in exploring these exciting possibilities! https://lnkd.in/eRDFXTMm

Everyone is talking about the new Fallout TV series, but not as many may know about the new Monopoly movie in the works with Margot Robbie’s company LuckyChap Entertainment. According to Rebecca Rubin of Variety, the Monopoly movie will be a live-action feature film based on the board game with Hasbro producing the film alongside LuckyChap (which consists of Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Josie McNamara). For reference, Lionsgate extended its development rights to Monopoly with its purchase of Entertainment One in 2023. According to Lionsgate, Monopoly is the world’s most popular board game brand with 99% global awareness, availability in 100+ countries, and selling ~500M copies. With LuckyChap recently working on the Barbie movie, it makes sense they’ll be working on such an iconic brand for the next movie. Curious to see how this will develop in the world of gaming x film crossovers. Follow #MoreMark for #Business content in #Gaming, #Esports, and #Creators!

Love that #fallout has been successful on TV. Thought it was going to be hard to eclipse #TLOU but it seems to be on the right track. From a people perspective we are seeing more and more requests for crossover talent between interactive entertainment and broader media. It’s exciting! It also helps that our global gaming, media and sports practice is set up to support this trend! ;) #transmedia #executivesearch #interactiveentertainment #videogames

Two huge pieces of news from one of my favorite studios - IO Interactive (IOI) from Copenhagen, developer of the Hitman series: - They've going to publish MindsEye, the upcoming AAA action game from Build A Rocket Boy, former GTA studio head Leslie Benzies' studio. This marks the first time IOI is publishing another studio's game, and is a major step in the company's evolution. - Another huge step is IOI's James Bond game, leveraging an IP that's now 50% owned by Amazon through Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios. This is the first use of the IP in gaming in quite a while, and it's IOI's first-licensed game - but now it seems they are planning for a trilogy if it performs well. Several of you have probably heard me talk about the potential I see for "single player live services", especially in reference to Hitman's episodic business model, which I think is the premier case study for the concept. Hitman episodes have been released sequentially and are highly replayable. Yes, this episodic model does require a regular stream of new game content, but not as much as you might think. The core gameplay is very systems-based and comes with a deep live ops-driven events/challenges/rewards meta, and regular content drops also allow for updates to previous updates based on player engagement. The combination encourages continued engagement, and episodic pricing allows a degree of customer price discrimination (though not to the extent of F2P IAP-driven games) distinct from a subscription model. I'm not sure if they'll use this model or not for MindsEye or James Bond - the discussion of a trilogy for Bond seems to imply it'll be sold as a standard premium game. Either way, I'm very excited for this news from one of the most talented game studios anywhere 🎮 #gaming #videogames #gamedev #entertainment #publishing

Here's an additional expansion of the fictional merch I did for #Helldivers2 in regards to ‘Community Adoption’. A YouTube news show (@twojesters) dedicated to the game embraced my visuals, ingeniously incorporating them as 'sponsored segments' in their format, blurring the lines between the game's universe and our reality. Voice actors (Rodrigo Borges) fueled by their passion for the game, lent their talents to produce mock 'TV commercials,' further enriching the narrative I had crafted. Article: "Bringing Immersive Brand Merch to Helldivers 2" https://lnkd.in/dsxisbzR #branddesign #gaming #licensing #merchandise

The Walt Disney Company dropped a ton of announcements and the main focus was on the rebundling of sports content with what have always been their competitors - something myself and Mark Pannes and others have long believed was inevitable. I was much more interested in seeing the announcement of this investment in Epic Games to build new universes for their IP in the gaming world. I had previously presumed Electronic Arts (EA) could be a target as it makes Star Wars IP games and the sports franchise could be an interesting fit with ESPN and other sports rights its involved with. We are a part of the consumer industry and Sport / Media / Gaming are all part of this space. Finding ways to extend your IP into where people spend their time and money (go do some research on how big 'gaming' is) shows that despite the issues Iger faces he continues to try and reinvent the game even as the game is being changed around him. #sportsbiz #entertainment #gaming #investment https://lnkd.in/eXw8xrUP

Dear Game Dev, Depending on the long-term vision you have for your soon-to-be franchise (amen to that!), having a movie made from your game could be something you'd consider. Back in the day, having a game adapted as a movie was considered a cursed endeavor for several reasons. This was the basis behind Rockstar's refusal of several offers to adapt its multibillion-dollar video game IPs in the past, according to co-founder Dan Houser. However, in recent years, this trend has started to wane, thanks to successful adaptations benefiting from well-thought-out strategies. One major strategy is ensuring that you are not left out of the overall creative process of the adaptation. For example, the action-adventure IP, The Last of Us, involved one of the game's directors, Neil Druckmann. He was heavily involved in writing, directing, and producing the movie to ensure it stayed true to the game's story, characters, and overall essence. To achieve this, you should ensure that necessary clauses like Approval and Consultation rights are included in the agreement between you and the filmmakers. While Approval rights allow you to be fully involved in creative decisions such as the script, director, casting, and final cut of the film, Consultation rights require that you be consulted throughout the production process. I hope this helps. - - - - - Hi, my name is Daniel, and I specialise in helping game developers like you realise their creative vision and maximise their IP assets profitably. For business enquiry, you can: 1. Head over to my profile 2. Send a DM or mail 3. Or book a 1:1 consultation #deargamedev #gamedevelopment #indiegames #videogameip #gamesindustry #creativeeconomy