The best-selling video games easily rake in more money from sales than the biggest blockbuster movies do at the box office, which is why the industry is so determined to make console-to-screen adaptations a viable enterprise, despite so many of them suffering from dismal critical and commercial performances over the last quarter of a century.
There’s been a definite upturn in quality over the last few years, though, with smash hits Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog becoming the first two adaptations to score a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while The Witcher ascended to pop culture phenomenon status and instantly established itself as one of Netflix‘s marquee TV shows after dominating both the conversation and the most-watched list for weeks on end.
The streaming service are now going all in on tackling high profile video game properties, and there are no less than ten projects in the works that cover film, television, live-action and animation. That’s not even counting the second season of The Witcher, although it does include prequel series Blood Origin, and you can check out the full list below.
- The Witcher: Blood Origin – Live-action TV series
- Resident Evil – Live-action TV series
- Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness – Animated TV series
- Assassin’s Creed – Live-action TV series
- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners – Animated TV series
- Splinter Cell – Animated TV series
- The Division – Live-action movie
- Devil May Cry – Animated TV series
- Final Fantasy – Live-action TV series
- The Cuphead Show! – Animated TV series
When you also factor in the animated Castlevania that was recently renewed for a fourth season and the Dragon’s Dogma anime that debuted last month, Netflix have quietly amassed a solid lineup of video game adaptations with some major talent involved. The genre is coming ever closer to escaping a somewhat unfair reputation of being cursed, and over the next few years subscribers will have plenty of options to choose from in regards to original content based on console favorites. But the key is always to make sure that non-fans become just as invested, too.