Cinematic and interactive universes: Games and studios come together to bring the biggest stories to life
Shifting demographics, innovative technologies, and the desire for high-performing IP are driving the evolution of storytelling.
Chris Arkenberg
Jeff Loucks
Kevin Westcott
Hanish Patel
In 2023, some of the largest and most successful film and TV franchises began as video games, and some of the biggest video games began as film and TV shows. Adapting games to films is not new but the quality and quantity of such adaptations—and revenues from them—have been growing in recent years, following the massive popularity of video games. Younger generations are especially engaged with games, and leading game franchises earn hundreds of millions of dollars from ardent players.1 Now, Hollywood is looking to games for new intellectual property (IP) they can expand and monetize, and game companies are eyeing TV and film collaborations to help make their IP work harder and offset soaring game development costs.2 Identifying, engaging, and honoring fandoms could be key to their success.
There are far more TV shows and movies based on video games slated for production in 2024 and beyond than any time before.3 Since the pandemic, people have been returning to theaters and US box office revenues had been climbing back toward prepandemic heights, though they’re still about 25% off.4
Deloitte predicts that the share of theatrical box office revenues from video game IP will double by 2025. We further predict that most major video streamers will include shows based on games by 2025. Although the 2023 Hollywood strikes will influence the slate of movies and shows, by 2025 we predict the trend will be back on track.
The nearly US$200 billion global games industry5 is exerting a growing influence on entertainment as storytelling in games becomes more sophisticated and fans give much of their entertainment time to game titles. Notably, several of the top 50 grossing films for 2023 also include successful video game offerings within the same cinematic universes.6 Whether they originate in games, TV, film, or elsewhere, compelling stories are expanding across media to engage fans, reach more audiences, and lift the broader value of franchises. Not only are these media converging more often but so are the production tools that enable them.7
Stories can often be bigger than any single media, and more people—especially younger generations—seem to want to be entertained by them and then break open the screen and walk inside to become the main star, the hero that saves the world. More studios will likely approach their IP with serials, films, and games in mind.
Why it works
In the summer of 2023, the Super Mario Brothers movie was the most successful video game film ever and added US$1.3 billion to Nintendo’s revenues.8 Before that, no video game film adaptation had ever crossed US$500 million in box office earnings.9 Soon after, Electronic Arts cited its game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor as one of the two main drivers for its quarterly earnings.10 These successes follow Sony’s The Last of Us series of games, the second of which won Game of the Year in 2020 before the story became a major serialized hit for Home Box Office (HBO) in 2023.11 Prior to all of this, Netflix launched its mobile gaming offer, which has included video games based on movies and series from its streaming titles.12
The lines between gameworlds and cinematic universes are blurring, with more actors, storylines, and promotions moving between them.13 Beyond direct revenues, these kinds of cross-over successes can lift the broader value of the franchise beyond cinema. If successful, this can set up a virtuous feedback loop where game IP drives box office revenues, which could bring more people into the game, creating more fans for other adaptations. As studios look to better monetize their most valuable and successful content, they’re being drawn into much larger cinematic and interactive universes—and the many challenges in developing and curating such expansive worlds.
Tapping into passionate fans and younger generations
Central to many of these successes are the fandoms that have grown around these stories, characters, and the worlds they exist within. Fans and fan communities make these stories more durable by sharing their passions with each other, welcoming new chapters and spin-offs, and following them across TV and film, gaming, and social media, and out into the physical world of merchandise and live experiences. Continuously renewing and stoking the passion of fans has helped successful franchises to span decades and generations, but it has often required innovation and a willingness to evolve and engage with old and new fans alike.
Indeed, the rising importance of video games is being driven by generational shifts in media and entertainment behaviors. Millennials and Generation Z are less enthralled by TV and film and are just as likely to give their entertainment time to social media and video games.14 They expect to engage with content, creators, celebrities, and stories across all these channels. Among them, gamers can be highly engaged, with many giving 60-100 hours or more to vast narrative games that can cost over US$200 million to produce.15 Players can embark upon the hero’s journey and work to build relationships with game characters, overcome challenges, and ultimately save the world. Done well, such gameworlds develop strong fandoms that feel like they’re both a part of the story and the franchise. Similarly, live game services drive strong engagement and retention through social bonds, multiplayer competition, and in-game economies.16
A passionate fanbase can also make it easier for franchises to expand into new media—if franchises stay true to the core values and uniqueness that make a franchise compelling. Some metrics show that most core fans would rather engage with a new installment of their favorite franchise than something new and they are more likely to buy products related to the franchise.17 However, fan communities are often empowered to voice their opinions and expectations and will likely hold studios to account if they veer too far from the canon. At the same time, more decision makers in media have now grown up with popular gaming franchises as a part of their lives.18 They may be more attuned to the expectations of fans, with a better sense of where the franchise should honor its core value and where it can stretch and evolve without disrupting its value.
The bottom line
Games not only have IP that can help fuel TV and film but they can also offer strong fandoms that can be tapped into for more engagement and monetization. But studios should be careful to honor the core principles that make a story universe unique and compelling, not only to fans but to new audiences as well. Likewise, studios may be drawn to gaming as a way to expand but they should carefully consider the challenges of doing so, while honoring fans and building relationships with game studios. They should understand, however, that it may be harder to make games from movies than it is to make movies from games. Ultimately, adapting to the media behaviors of younger generations could mean that TV and film studios may have little choice but to enter gaming.
Critically, innovations in technology are likely making it easier to develop IP strategies that move across these media. As Deloitte noted in our 2023 TMT Predictions, virtual production tools are bringing game engines into the center of production, able to generate and deliver assets directly to TV screens, cinemas, and gameworlds.19 This can not only make it easier to develop IP for both games and video but could also enable a new platform for cross-media storytelling. However, TV and film studios may face challenges in adopting virtual production tools and hiring the talent needed to make the tools perform, and in crossing the gap from making great TV and movies to developing compelling video games.
More relationships can help: Game companies are likely well-versed in developing 3D content and experiences and may already have talent working in the game engines that power virtual production. Successful game adaptations of cinematic universes may benefit from collaborations with independent game studios to develop them. Conversely, film and TV can offer game companies ways to expand their IP into additional revenue streams while potentially driving interest and engagement back to their games. Some of the most successful video properties based on games have made a point of speaking directly to core fans.20
Film and TV studios offer expertise in storytelling, cinematic experiences, and reaching and engaging audiences. Such relationships could be key to driving down exorbitant production costs—the biggest summer theatrical blockbusters and the largest AAA games can cost US$300 million or more to develop and market.21 More strategic coordination could, for example, centralize digital assets and production tools that can then make it easier to develop different stories and experiences within a story universe. Combining such production optimizations and strategic planning with strong audience data could further derisk decisions about content, casting, and distribution.
Relationships and production tools can make it easier to deploy stories to different media, but the unique value of the stories themselves and the fans that cherish them are often still the core strength of a studio. The fandoms that grow around a franchise and help sustain it are frequently drawn by something unique and meaningful about those stories, characters, and worlds. Studios across media should focus on and reinforce what makes them unique and meaningful, then clearly articulate this through all channels. Studios can more easily change the storylines and main characters, and move between games, TV, and film, if the core value is truly represented in each instance. This can enable flexibility to feed fans, reach new audiences, and deliver novel experiences to younger generations, while still staying true to what makes the franchise great.