Movie tie-in games used to be everywhere, and they usually helped hype up the release of a movie like Star Wars or The Matrix—but ever since the PS4 generation, it seems like we’re seeing less and less of tie-in video games. Sure some still exist, but they barely release around the time of the film its adapting, and they’re barely any good.
So many new movies like Ghostbusters and even the freakin’ Marvel Cinematic Universe have huge potential for video game tie-ins, but so far they have none. So what happened?
Why Did They Stop Making Movie Tie-In Games?
Video game tie-ins usually fell under the merch umbrella, which also helped bring in a lot of money besides ticket sales in the box office. More than half of the profit that Star Wars makes is from toys and merchandise and video games were certainly a huge contributor to that profit.
While it was easier to make tie-in video games around the 80s all the way up to the early 2000s, there had been a sudden change when it came to the game industry. Gradually, it became more expensive to produce games that were expected to be in the same level of quality of the movies they were adapting.
Sure it’s easier to pump out a game based on Lord of the Rings when you’re only dealing with PS2 graphics, but now a lot more work needs to be put into a title if it’s going to look good for the PS5 generation.
At best, the only tie-in games that have been released recently have been copy-and-paste mobile puzzle games or reskins of existing games (like Star Wars Angry Birds). There have been ambitious attempts at a AAA game adaptation like Dune: Awakening, but the game has been so extensively delayed that it missed the release of both Dune movies—messing up their live service road map which was supposed to tie in with the films.
With that in mind, I think there’s still a way to bring back tie-in video games, but there has to be a new set to expectations when it comes to the developers and gamers. Here’s a few of my pitches:
Ditch the Hyper-Realism
This was a lesson Marvel Games learned the hard way with Marvel’s Avengers. It takes a whole lot of work to make characters look hyper-real for a video game, and that’s usually what takes a lot of time during development.
With the success of Marvel Rivals, people are starting to realize that there is an appeal to just having simplified, stylized looks for a game that is simpler to produce, and they even add a certain flair that adds to the overall vibe of the game.
Embrace the Retro Aesthetic
A lot of these movie franchises are decades old, and that makes it okay for them to have video games that look like they fit the time they originally released.
Take a look at Dotemu’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. It’s essentially a love letter to the original TMNT beat-em-ups from the 90s, but it still has that retro pixelated aesthetic packed with some modernized gameplay.
For some games, the retro aesthetic is the main hook. Warhammer did the same thing with their Boltgun spinoff that looked like the original Doom, but with modern gameplay mechanics.
Going back to Marvel, they have Rivals now, but they’re also releasing a pixelated game called Cosmic Invasion which looks like it’s a spinoff from the original Marvel vs. Capcom games that came out in the 90s—and it’s part of the appeal.
Has anyone thought of a pixelated He-Man versus game that has a playable roster of every Master of the Universe? Someone should have milked games out of the Godzilla vs. Kong movies by now. How is there no TRON game with the upcoming Jared Leto movie set to release soon?
Make Sure the Gameplay Is Thought Out
While it does seem I’m being a tad romantic with movie tie-in games, I have to admit that a lot of them aren’t really that good. If anything, most movie tie-ins are rushed slop that devs are forced to make under tight schedules to release alongside the movies they’re adapting.
But for every trash movie game, there are beloved classics like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Spider-Man 2, and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
They may not have 24-hour-long campaigns, but they remain to be celebrated because of their solid gameplay mechanics which keep players coming back to either repeat the whole game or try to complete every single achievement.
Spider-Man 2 allowed Spidey to actually swing around New York for the first time. Return of the King made sure every character played differently and each had combos that were unique to their skillset that players had to master.
Stick True to the Narrative
Part of the reason I enjoy movie tie-in games is because they let the player play the movie they’re based on. Sorcerer’s Stone had me learning spells and flying a broomstick as if I were Harry myself, and it felt more personal the time I finally got to face Voldemort in the end after all my hours of progress.
Video games just allow you to experience the movie in a different way, and sometimes the medium even allows for alternate endings should you decide to play the game differently. The game for Revenge of the Sith had an alternate ending that explored what would happen if Anakin won the fight against Obi-Wan on Mustafar. The last boss fight in Return of the King has Frodo coming to his senses and helping Sam fight Gollum inside Mount Doom.
There’s definitely a lot of room for leeway, but at best movies already have a narrative to follow, it’s just the job of the devs to make it ‘playable.’
Can Movie Tie-Ins Make a Comeback?
At best, the new form of movie tie-ins are DLC collaborations with existing games. Once in a while, Fortnite will get special skins based on Wonder Woman or Spider-Man, or Overwatch will have a bundle based on Avatar: The Last Airbender characters.
These are definitely cheaper ways to promote films in the game medium, but they’re not exactly a playable version of the movie.
With the rise of retro-style modern games and indie developers, I think it’s worth exploring the possibility of a tie-in game with a different set of expectations. With the market absolutely low on this genre, there is definitely potential for someone to swoop in and fill that gap.
Why isn’t there a tie-in game for James Gunn’s Superman? Someone could have easily designed something around Novocaine or the live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie.