The announcement that Netflix and Ubisoft are
planning a live-action Assassin’s Creed series was welcome news for fans of the franchise, but it’s hardly surprising. Ubisoft and Netflix first announced they were working together in June 2019 on
distribution of the movie adaptation of The Division, and in July 2020 they shared that they were teaming for an
animated Splinter Cell show and a
Beyond Good and Evil movie. Negotiations for the publisher’s bestselling franchise have probably been in the works for a while.
What the news does make clear is just how much Netflix is banking on video game adaptations to give it an edge in the streaming wars. Assassin’s Creed will join a growing library of titles, including The Witcher (despite being based on the books rather than the games) and Castlevania, that allow the service to capitalize on its existing strengths and tactics to continue to grow its audience.
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A Perfect Medium for Video Game Adaptations
Generally speaking, video games make notoriously bad movies. One of the main reasons for this is the burden of both appeasing hardcore fans while also introducing the property to casual viewers. Video game stories unfold over 20-100 hours and often involve complex mythologies. It can be nearly impossible to satisfactorily explain the world, the characters, and the plot and then deliver some meaningful payoff in two-to-three hours without relying on dull exposition dumps or just leaving some viewers extremely confused about what’s going on. Those very problems were present in the 2016 Assassin’s Creed film.
In contrast, viewers of serialized TV shows are used to dealing with significant setup. Put in enough sex, action, jokes, and engaging characters to make a given episode entertaining and you can easily get viewers to sit through lectures on the nature of magic or the relationships between noble houses. Once you’ve gotten a few episodes in, everyone’s basically caught up and you can get into the big conflicts.
Game of Thrones wildly expanded the audience for genre shows and proved that even people who weren’t prolific readers of fantasy novels were willing to keep up with their complexities. Netflix’s The Witcher was one of the first shows to attempt to fill the void left by GoT’s departure, offering the same mix of big-budget fantasy and political intrigue. The show joined a stable of more historically focused dramas that Netflix streams thanks to its aggressive efforts to collect the rights to shows made around the world (including titles like The Last Kingdom, Medici, and Barbarians). With its time-hopping, globe-trotting action and complicated lore filled with secret societies and genetic memory, an Assassin’s Creed show will likely straddle the line between those shows and the live-action manga adaptation Warrior Nun.
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Netflix isn’t entirely giving up on the prospect of making a good video game movie though. It’s also planning a live-action Dragon’s Lair adaptation and the Beyond Good and Evil movie. That’s smart business given that the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated theatrical releases while prompting rapid growth for Netflix. Plenty of people might still not feel safe going out to the movies next year, but they’ll likely be desperate for new entertainment they can watch from home.
Short Series and Endless Spinoffs
Video games also fit uniquely well with Netflix’s business model, where the streaming service is constantly releasing new titles but often cancels shows over just a few seasons. Any given game and its sequels and DLC might offer enough plot for several seasons, but gamers are already primed to accept spinoffs, prequels, and reboots.
Like with a game series, streaming series face diminishing returns over time. Every sequel or season makes it more daunting for new audiences to get invested while some people who played or watched the original will lose interest. A new game or show based on the same property provides the opportunity for a fresh start without entirely abandoning dependable fans.
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That’s already clearly part of Netflix’s game adaptation strategy. While the second season of The Witcher is filming now, Netflix is also working on a live-action prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, and an anime movie prequel, Nightmare of the Wolf. The Castlevania anime may be used to set up a Devil May Cry series from the same series creator. Netflix is also getting a live-action show based on Final Fantasy XIV, which presumably opens the doors to any number of other shows based on the enormous RPG series.
The deal between Netflix and Ubisoft includes the rights to live-action and animated Assassin’s Creed shows. Because of its numerous settings, time periods, and protagonists, the Assassin’s Creed series is especially perfect for a wide range of titles. If Netflix kicks things off with a series based on Desmond Miles and Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, it could easily move on to a show focused more on Ezio Auditore da Firenze or on Layla Hassan and Kassandra.
An Emphasis on Animation
Another challenge of adapting video games is the budgets necessary to recreate their worlds and characters. Netflix has shown it’s got the deep pockets to do The Witcher justice, but a show needs to deliver viewers for it to be willing to spend that kind of money. But Netflix is also willing to accept more modest successes with lower costs, which can be provided by animated shows.
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Like video games themselves, anime in the West has grown from a relatively niche fandom to big entertainment business, and Netflix is leading the way to expand the genre’s popularity worldwide. The launch of the Castlevania anime in 2017 was part of a concerted push to ramp up its share of the market. Netflix has continued to add to its library of original video game animated shows by working with CD Projekt Red on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Capcom on Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.
Animation gives showrunners the same freedom to ignore the rules of physics or the constraints of physical locations that video game makers have. It’s also perfect for highly stylistic games like the 1930s animation-inspired Cuphead, which will be turned into the Netflix comedy The Cuphead Show.
Properties Netflix Can Control
Netflix makes more money from original shows that it produces in-house than from those acquired from a third party, but it also loves making deals with companies to get access to an established property like it did with Disney’s street-level Marvel heroes. While the MCU shows including Daredevil and Jessica Jones were a huge boon for the network, they all ended ahead of the launch of Disney+.
In retrospect, that separation was inevitable. Disney’s been making TV shows for a long time and the Netflix deal let the company continue to build an audience while learning enough about streaming from the industry leader before striking out on its own. Netflix execs probably wager they won’t face similar defections from Ubisoft or other video game companies they cut deals with because setting up a streaming service would be so far outside of their core competencies. Netflix is arguably more likely to get involved in making games, a prospect it has hinted at with interactive films and shows including Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Minecraft: Story Mode, and You vs. Wild.
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Meanwhile, the game studios have their titles in front of Netflix’s rapidly growing subscriber base, getting a share of money from those deals while also potentially building a larger audience for the actual games. The more game companies that Netflix courts, and the more successful adaptations it develops, the more likely it is that other developers will find the service more appealing than its competitors. With so many streaming services to choose from, viewers have to make choices for where they’re spending their money each month, and for video game fans it’s becoming increasingly clear that it’s difficult to avoid Netflix.
A Growing Audience
Netflix was able to capitalize on the superhero boom with its MCU shows and The Umbrella Academy, and its interest in adding a huge library of video game-inspired content shows the streaming network is working to stay ahead of the curve. The games market has been rapidly growing for decades and by every metric, from console sales to Twitch viewership, interest in gaming has exploded during the pandemic. When those players need to take a break from gaming or are looking for something to watch in the background while they grind, Netflix wants to be the service they turn to – and the streamer is making big moves to make it happen.
What do you think? Is Netflix the way to go for video game adaptations? Let’s discuss in the comments!