God Of War looks like it will be the latest big name video game franchise to get a screen adaptation. Amazon is reportedly in negotiations to develop a live-action series based on the ancient mythology-themed action-adventure game.
Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, who created The Expanse, are reportedly developing the series alongside Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions, which collaborate on all TV shows based on PlayStation games.
The God Of War series launched in 2005 and focuses on ex-Spartan warrior Kratos and his perilous journey to exact revenge on the Ares, the Greek God of War, who killed his loved ones under the deity’s influence. After becoming the ruthless God of War himself, Kratos finds himself constantly looking for a chance to change his fate.
The eighth and most recent installment in the franchise – confusingly just titled God Of War again – received universal acclaim and won Game of the Year at the 2018 Game Awards. A ninth game, Ragnarok, is in the works and scheduled to arrive this year.
If this deal goes through, it would be just the latest video game-to-TV adaptation in the industry. With the streaming wars as competitive as ever, companies need content, and popular games are a good place to find built-in IP to be adapted.
Peacock recently gave fellow PlayStation property Twisted Metal a series order with Anthony Mackie in the lead, while HBO has the highly anticipated TV adaptation of The Last Of Us in the works.
Netflix is developing a series based on the Resident Evil games, while Paramount+ is close to premiering a show based on the immensely popular Xbox franchise, Halo.
This isn’t even the first video game adaptation Amazon is working on. The company is also developing a Mass Effect series adaptation, has a Fallout series starring Walton Goggins beginning production this year, and also recently closed a first-look deal with dj2 Entertainment to develop TV series based on gaming IP.
So yeah, the days of video game adaptations being laughed at for never being good look set to evaporate into the past, as most of these projects will be big-budget, dense epics intended to be the next big show on TV. If just one of them hits it big, expect a rash of even more game adaptations to be announced by competing networks and streamers.
Fergus and Ostby shared an Oscar nomination for co-writing Children Of Men, and also co-wrote the script for Iron Man, so they have experience with adapting established characters and working in unique worlds. The Expanse was also an acclaimed but under-watched sci-fi series which ran for six seasons.
The duo sound like a good choice to helm a God Of War show, but they’ll have their work cut out for them just deciding which of the nine games to lift from. We’ll wait for more news regarding God Of War and the many other video game shows currently in development.
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