We are in the golden age of adaptational cinema! Comic adaptations continue to soar in popularity with the rising DC Universe and future Marvel releases, while novels have been adapted into blockbusters and critical darlings, such as Dune (2021-2026), Hamnet (2025), and Project Hail Mary (2026). The concept of adapting other artistic mediums into the cinema is not a recent phenomenon, either: Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice has been adapted at least a dozen times over the past century, for example, while celebrated director Peter Weir rose in popularity thanks to his 1975 adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock. And yet, one particular source of film adaptation is usually met with skepticism or overt criticism: the video game. 

Early adaptations like Doom (2005), starring The Rock, of all people, were easily considered box-office bombs and fell into a general B-movie passivity, forgotten and often thrown to the wayside. However, with recent box office successes, including the two Five Nights at Freddy’s films (2023 & 2025) and YouTuber Markiplier’s directorial debut Iron Lung (2026), things seem to be changing on the big screen. 

More movies are being developed from video games, now with critically acclaimed directors set to helm new features. Zach Cregger of Weapons (2025) fame has taken on the newest Resident Evil film, whereas Michael Sarnoski, director of Pig (2021), is adapting Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding for the big screen. The same is happening on the small screen, with HBO’s The Last of Us and Amazon’s Fallout garnering massive praise from critics, gamers, and the broader public. 

But what changed? The general air of skepticism appears to have lifted from the adaptations seen in the 2000s, but the reason why and how it could continue to change are up for debate. One could argue that more game adaptations are just a sign of the classic ‘Hollywood is out of ideas’ narrative, simply taking on more variations of pre-conceived stories. However, I would argue that the rise is for a different reason: the idea of a ‘video game’ itself has changed and is now well-developed enough to encompass far more narrative options than before. 

In its own way, this development is a double-edged (master) sword. Video games started off incredibly simple, but the days of Pong and Tetris are long gone. Technological development came with an advancement in both graphical fidelity and narrative complexity. Some franchises transcended these shifts in development, otherwise known as the ‘console generations,’ with the aforementioned Resident Evil or Call of Duty, while others became emblematic of a specific timeframe in gaming history: the Sly Cooper franchise was relatively contained within the PlayStation 2 era, and Gears of War (itself getting a film adaptation), despite continued additions to the franchise, remains considered an Xbox 360 franchise. 

This timeframe capitalized on story-driven games, building on formulas of action, adventure, and puzzles; levels to be completed became chapters to finish, with emotional beats and characters carrying the player through the game. This is where The Last of Us and Fallout found their footing. Narrative gaming became just as credible an option for storytelling as watching a movie or reading a novel.

But with narrative complexity came sweeping formal innovation. New console generations came with new mechanics, new options, and even new buttons on new controllers. This increasing complexity eroded the ‘pick up and play’ mentality of earlier games. Gaming today has developed into a whole new language, and therefore, the barrier to entry has also gotten higher and higher. With that consideration, it makes sense for a rise in film adaptations to occur. As games become more time-consuming and technologically demanding to engage with, porting their narratives to other formats can allow more people to connect with them without any instruction manual. 

Notably, these adaptations are coming from a relatively bygone era of gaming. While these games are still popular within circles, and many have received remakes in recent years to connect with newer audiences, the biggest games by player count today, such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, as well as the subgenre of ‘extraction shooters,’ such as Arc Raiders and Marathon, are multiplayer, fast-paced, and any storyline is effectively optional. Where does that leave video games today and future video game adaptations? One could consider ‘indie’ games the new frontier of game adaptation: Five Nights at Freddy’s and Iron Lung are part of a new kind of independently produced project, with lore designed to both inform and confound the player. A rise in online game theories about these smaller-scale franchises also led to mass appeal across genres and generations. Perhaps where triple-A titles have declined in their adherence to narrative, smaller passion projects will come to the forefront and deliver a new kind of video game adaptation built on connecting with a loving fanbase while showcasing a rich world and story. Video games are, in part, about being immersed in a world and its intricacies. As video game adaptations continue to shift between two competing industries, hopefully a balance can be found where these stories are told with their video game roots intact while allowing more and more audiences to engage with their narratives and ideas.