Today, we got to see the next in a series of baffling movie announcements. Sony is making a movie out of Gravity Rush. Gravity Rush was an obscure game, and the sequel had online support dropped within a year, and now they’re making a film out of it?
This isn’t even weirdest game adaptation announced recently. Sega is adapting Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone. Space channel 5 has a synopsis that could have been written by an AI: “Space Channel 5 will follow a fast food employee enlisted by a reporter from the future to save the world from aliens ‘using the one thing that unites all people on the planet: our love of silly viral dances.'” Comix Zone originally came out in 1995 and hasn’t had a sequel. Now, it’s getting a movie.
In general, it looks like game properties have been getting more valuable, and publishers are digging deep into their back catalogs to find things to adapt. These properties might not sell well as games right now, but they still could have value as movies.