PlayStation to adapt their IPs into film and TV through newly formed PlayStation Productions studio
Good video game movies are a hard commodity to come by, with most film adaptations of beloved game franchises having a tendency to fall into mediocrity, or be remembered purely for being terrible. PlayStation is looking to change that, however, with the formation of a new production studio that will be dedicated to bringing their IPs to both TV and film. Called PlayStation Productions, the division will be led by Asad Qizilbash, with Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Shawn Layden overseeing all projects.
Shawn Layden said:We’ve got 25 years of game development experience and that’s created 25 years of great games, franchises and stories. We feel that now is a good time to look at other media opportunities across streaming or film or television to give our worlds life in another spectrum.
Stating that PlayStation was tired of licensing out their IPs to other film studios, Qzilbash claims that his team will be better prepared to create movies and shows based off gaming franchises, as they are familiar with the properties, and know "what the PlayStation community loves". Sony Pictures will be funding these projects, though they will have no hand in creating them, with Layden stressing the fact that PlayStation Productions will have the money to take their time, hire the most suitable casts, and won't have to rush out any movies to meet strict deadlines.
Shawn Layden said:We want to create an opportunity for fans of our games to have more touch points with our franchises. When fans beat a 40-50 hour game and have to wait three-four years for a sequel, we want to give them places they can go and still have more of that experience and see the characters they love evolve in different ways. This is a passion project for me [...] to be the first gaming entity to do something lasting and meaningful in a completely different medium is something I’d like to see us achieve here at PlayStation Productions.
You can see just by watching older video game adaptations that the screenwriter or director didn’t understand that world or the gaming thing. The real challenge is, how do you take 80 hours of gameplay and make it into a movie? The answer is, you don’t. What you do is you take that ethos you write from there specifically for the film audience. You don’t try to retell the game in a movie.
Time will tell if this venture will be a successful one for PlayStation, as the team appears to value taking things slow. PlayStation Productions seems to have the right mindset, but do you think they can pull off creating good TV shows and movies for their game franchises?
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