The next The Last of Us might be right under our noses, and has been since 2023.
Video game adaptations in Hollywood have increased by an average of 30 percent each year since 2019, the researchers at Ampere Analysis found. But not all of the good ones have been swallowed up yet — four “high-potential game IPs with strong transmedia credentials remain unclaimed,” the UK-based analysts wrote in a recent study shared with The Hollywood Reporter, “presenting a fresh opportunity for studios seeking the next breakout hit.”
From 2019 to 2025, 272 video game adaptations have been greenlit for film and TV; 2024 was the standout year with 62 new orders. While video game adaptations traditionally went the animated route, “the market has shifted decisively towards live-action adaptations,” per Ampere, “driven by the recent success of high-profile titles such as The Last of Us and A Minecraft Movie.” In 2025, 69 percent of commissioned adaptations were live-action — that’s more than double the share from 2024.
In the past six months alone, 18 new video game adaptations were greenlit; 78 percent were live action.
These are major productions we’re talking about. Warner Bros., Paramount, Netflix, (NBCUniversal owner) Comcast and Amazon have each already secured the rights to at least 10 “marquee game franchises,” in Ampere Analysis’ classification. Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance prefer theatrical releases — and after the success of A Minecraft Movie ($958 million worldwide), why wouldn’t WB? — whereas Amazon, Disney, Netflix and Comcast prefer the deep engagement offered by streaming series.
Ampere sees eight keys to success in this world:
- A defined narrative
- Adaptation style (live action vs. animated)
- Addressable audience (based on Ampere’s Games Consumer survey data, which measures respondents’ preferences for game genres and themes.)
- Franchise first release year
- Franchise popularity (A proprietary Ampere metric that measures online engagement with IPs, based on aggregated metrics, including interest volume and web traffic from major services such as Google and Wikipedia.)
- Title popularity
- Title recency
- ESRB age rating (As Ronald Santa-Cruz, research manager and games subject matter expert at Ampere Analysis tells THR, the less restrictive the better: “The data indicated that the less restrictive age ratings such as E-everyone or E10+ is preferable. The restrictive M-mature age rating was associated with [fewer] TV series renewals. The age rating indicates the target demo size the content can reach without significantly changing the story. So the less restrictive rated content can reach a wider audience while remaining true to the original story.”)
With those eight attributes in mind, Ampere’s analysts have identified four available titles: Baldur’s Gate 3 (M for Mature 17+), Black Myth: Wukong (T for Teen), Hollow Knight: Silksong (T for Teen) and Sons of the Forest (M for Mature 17+).
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a role-playing game released in 2023. Set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, the Larian Studios RPG follows a party that seeks to cure themselves of a parasitic tadpole infecting their brains. It absolutely cleaned up at the major gaming awards shows, becoming the first title to win Game of the Year at all five major video game awards ceremonies. It’s ready for primetime — game on.
