Television and video games seem to make the perfect pair. Not only do most gaming devices require connecting to a television set in order to work, but the appealing characters, engaging scenarios, and over-the-top action of many video games make for excellent viewing entertainment. Thus, it’s not all that hard to see why there have been T.V. shows based on many popular games, from 1982’s Pac-Man to Mortal Kombat, Angry Birds, and Castlevania.
Netflix recently produced an animated series titled Arcane, which is based on the widely popular MOBA game League of Legends. The show has reached critical and commercial acclaim, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting that it has a 100% approval rating amongst critics, and was even the platform’s highest rated show for November 2021.
Indeed, video games have a rocky history making the jump from pixelated game form to television and movies, but with gaming more popular now than ever, there is an indication that they will continue to get better-and-better.
In recent years, there have been announcements for a plethora of video game related TV shows, including Microsoft’s flagship series Halo, Naughty Dog’s modern classic The Last of Us, indie darling Cuphead, and even long lost gaming mascot Earthworm Jim.
With streaming services making episodic shows much more popular lately than even feature films, video games seem to be ripe for the picking as companies such as Netflix, HBO, Paramount, and Amazon battle it out to be the best streaming platform; the service with the best shows usually wins, of course.
That being said, what gaming franchises do you think would make for excellent TV viewing? Are there any that have had movie adaptations, or older shows, that you would want to see revisited as a more modern series? I’d love to know what you have to say in our comment section below and and on our Discord!
Leave a Reply