There’s no doubt that gaming content can be a strong feature in full-length films. Historically, releases like James Bond have relied on classic gambling as a way to build tension, and more modern films have embraced scenes with video games to reflect modern trends. Full-length films around gaming titles are much rarer, however, with only a few standouts like the new Tetris bucking an often poor-quality trend.
This raises questions about why this is. Why are such popular activities so rarely the main focus of full-length releases, and why might short-form content be a better fit? Taking a look at gaming and historical examples, we want to explore the complications faced by combining film and gaming, and why short-form can often be a superior fit.
The Story Challenge of Adapting Gaming Titles
Whether adapting physical games or video games, we often encounter one of two issues: either there’s too little story to draw from, or there’s so much story that it’s difficult to adapt. In the first case, a game like poker has no inherent narrative, making it a poor fit for a straightforward adaptation. On the other hand, short films like Lucky Fish succeed because they focus tightly, delivering in seven minutes what might feel stretched or incoherent in a 90-minute format.
To create a full-length film around a simple game, like a casino title, we would need to step back and consider the broader context. Instead of focusing on a single game, a feature film could explore the larger environment. For example, when browsing Caesars Palace bonuses you’re not just looking at one game, but rather a wide array of options, each with unique features and bonuses. This variety allows the page to capture more of what interests people, rather than concentrating on a single element. Similarly, a film could look at the bigger picture—not just the game itself, but the surrounding elements that enhance its appeal. By including these additional components, a more engaging story could emerge.
The longer side of the spectrum in video games faces similar issues seen in novels. Adapting a story of a thousand pages into a feature-length film is a difficult ask, and this is a challenge we’ve seen fail many times before. The longest video games ever made can offer dozens of hours of story content, where inevitable cuts risk losing sight of the bigger picture. If a game relies on characterization or world building, cramming as much as possible into one movie will rarely provide a coherent result.
The Cost of Bombast
Creating a film on a small game like poker can see a strong return on investment, thanks to the game not requiring the special effects that modern audiences love. The same isn’t quite true for gaming, however, where a reliance on computer-generated worlds in the base products means fans expect a certain visual flair. Converting this into practical and film-worth effects is prohibitively expensive, especially for unproven IPs.
The Silent Hill games are a prime example of building tension slowly, then escalating to extreme levels of horror—so much so that Silent Hill 2 PC version was initially considered for an adults-only rating by the ESRB. While horror films often rely on special effects, a movie that fully captured Silent Hill 2’s intense visual style would require a massive budget. This is partly why the existing Silent Hill films were not widely celebrated, and why many production companies hesitate to invest in a more authentic adaptation.
Short films could sidestep this issue by cutting down the action or effects-heavy sequences into much more financially viable chunks. An hour of effects in a feature film could cost hundreds of millions, whereas a smaller section cleverly designed around the strengths and limitations of a short film would cost a small fraction of this amount. It still wouldn’t be cheap, but it wouldn’t risk hurting a company either.
A New Age of Exploration
Recent films and television shows based on gaming have been raising the bar of success, and this practically guarantees an incoming torrent of imitators. Given the issues we’ve covered above though, this does mean short films could be a fantastic target as testing grounds and stand-alone features.
The only real problem with this approach is that short films are more separated from their longer cousins in more ways than outsiders think. Funding, visibility, access, and returns on investment all feature new challenges in short film media, so combinations with gaming content again reveal additional hurdles. Still, there is immense untapped potential here, and since film is all about experimentation and progress, we’re sure the right minds with the right attitudes can find a way forward.