The movie version will never be as immersive. Those who have played the Uncharted games will probably find the cinematic adaptation of this sequence to be far less thrilling. There are parts of Uncharted that will be familiar to fans like the cargo plane sequence used to start the film and brandished on the poster. You take the basic elements of the story, borrow some action set pieces from the game and cast A-list talent. Uncharted is the perfect example of how video game adaptations are engineered to attract new fans. while Nathan Fillion would have been a hit with fans, he isn’t exactly the same box office draw and current pop culture phenomenon as the guy who currently plays Spider-Man. The choices made by Sony for the movie version of Uncharted was designed to attract potential viewers unfamiliar with the game. “Tom Holland is too young to play Nathan Drake.” From the moment the project was announced, fans of the game immediately started pointing out ‘glaring errors’ made by the Producers. Take the recent Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, based on the extremely successful Sony PlayStation franchise. Hollywood is very comfortable with this concept. The only certainty with any adaptation is that it will probably fail to impress the most hardcore fans. That can mean making radical changes to characters, completely ignoring story elements and making wholesale changes to decades of established lore. They are very comfortable strip mining the property for the most marketable elements and doing whatever else is required to make the project a success. Rarely do studios bother obsessing over the details like the most ardent fans. The process of adapting a book, comic, musical or video game can be perilous. Now they’re looking for new fans in new mediums. The harsh reality is that owners of these intellectual properties have already made their money from the gamers. The goal is to take something immensely popular and refashion it for film or television. It’s no different than adapting a novel, comic book or Broadway musical. They are attempts at using the familiar elements of the intellectual property to attract new viewers. Video game adaptations aren’t trying to win over fans of the game they’re trying to find new fans who haven’t played them. How can you adapt a video game if you don’t even bother to play the game itself or explore every facet of the fictional universe? The answer is simple. So when Hollywood comes a calling, buys the rights and openly declares that the writers and showrunners didn’t bother playing the game, it offends their sensibilities. Watched hundreds of hours of videos about the games discussing the most miniscule details that most casual gamers couldn’t care less about. Completed every side quest and talked to every NPC. Spent countless hours finding every easter egg and finding items that teach them about the deep lore of the game. They’re the ones who have invested hundreds of hours into the game. It makes perfect sense that the harshest critics of video game adaptations are fans of the series. Why would a studio invest money in a video game property if they have no interest in making the show or movie appeal to fans of that series? Let’s pull up the map, find the quest marker and see where this journey leads us. But there’s something that a vast majority of gaming enthusiasts don’t consider when discussing the live action version of their favorite video game Unfortunately, gamers often find the adaptations of their favorite games to be lacking, citing a departure from the source material and a lack of fundamental understanding of the lore. The gaming industry is full of great stories and striking visuals that could easily be the foundation for an entertaining series. The Halo series just concluded its first season and The Last of Us is slated to premiere next year. Over the last few months there have been announcements for movies and shows based on the Horizon Zero Dawn, The Division, Super Mario Bros. Video game adaptations are becoming more common as studios and streaming services look for recognizable intellectual properties to turn into movies and shows. And you know what? They don’t care if you like it or not. You know that game you love? The one your poured hundreds of hours into until your fingers were sore? The one where you completed every side quest, talked to every NPC and read every piece of in game lore to better understand the world you were completely immersed within? Turns out they’re adapting it into a TV show for one of the eight hundred streaming services currently vying for your attention. Anghus Houvouras on why video game adaptations don’t care about gamers…
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