Film and game critics have constantly made comparisons between the two mediums for years, whether it was the cinematic quality of game cutscenes or the video-game sense of action in some shoot-em-up. But what if one were to combine the two to create a unique experience?
Film production company Lionsgate decided to make a significant investment into game developer Telltale Games, who had developed the popular games "The Walking Dead," Seasons 1 and 2 and "Fables: The Wolf Among Us." According to The Guardian, Lionsgate hoped to work with Telltale to create what they described as a "super show", where a show would use cinematic elements as well as interactive ones to tell an interesting story.
A Telltale executive told Entertainment Weekly about what the two companies were imagining: "Each super show episode [the interactive game and the scripted episode] will be released as a package designed so that you can consume the interactive portion or watch the scripted show portion in any order you'd like....For instance, if you play the interactive episode first, certain elements of the scripted episode portion will be tailored to reflect some choices made in your interactive play-through. If you watch the show before playing, some elements in the interactive portions may be presented differently than if you played first."
This style would fit well with Telltale's general theory of storytelling. Telltale has mastered the cinematic game format with The Walking Dead and with Fables, which won numerous awards. Telltale was also a master of using moral decisions to invest players more into their world.
Lionsgate is known for producing the "Divergent," "Hunger Games" and "The Expendables" film series.
This isn't the first time creators have tried to incorporate games into a television media. The MMORPG Defiance was based wholly on Syfy's television show and was designed to help answer lore-based and background questions about the in-game/show world. Microsoft previously announced Quantum Break, a project that supposedly mixed the Xbox One's gaming abilities with its media center. However, Microsoft has not released any updates about the project since its original inception.
