From Fallout on Amazon Prime to The Last of Us on HBO, after decades of critical and commercial flops, gaming adaptations are finally finding the mark and Hollywood is cashing in.
"The video game adaptation curse is just the fact that they were always bad," says Newshub Vertical Editor Daniel Rutledge.
"We've had dozens and dozens of terrible video game adaptations. And finally, as of the last three years, they've started getting good - sometimes amazing, like The Last of Us TV show."
Now a Kiwi game is next in line for the blockbuster treatment. Dredge, a sinister fishing game made by a four-person team at Black Salt Games in Christchurch, was nominated for four BAFTAs, sold over a million units, and has been picked up as a film by Story Kitchen productions.
"[It's] completely mindblowing. The first emails that we started to receive asking about whether the movie rights were available, I think we thought were scams," Black Salt CEO Nadia Thorne told Newshub.
"Once we started talking to the production studios and especially our partner in Story Kitchen, who we're working with on this movie, it really became clear that they had a really good vision for how to adapt the story that we've told in the game to the screen. So we're really excited."
Thorne already has an idea for one Kiwi icon who could star: Sam Neill. After all, he has experience on spooky ships, having starred in cult horror sci-fi classic, Event Horizon.
"Oh my God. Sam, if you're watching this and you're available, let us know!"
Though with any luck, Thorne thinks Dredge won't be the only Kiwi game to be adapted.
"We've also already got the film and screen expertise, you know, and the likes of Weta and everything. So wouldn't it be amazing to see a lot more collaborations between our screen sectors, whether that's game, film, TV."
No word on when Dredge will sail into cinemas but with 70 film and TV adaptations underway already, gaming on both the big and small screen, is levelling up.
