LogInBut does he need to play the games to make a great story?
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Game-to-TV adaptations have managed to climb out of the abyss in recent years thanks to The Last of Us, Fallout, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but players are still cautious every time a new show comes.
One of the most anticipated game-related series to come is Amazon's God of War, and fans got a new reason to worry after the showrunner Ron Moore's recent confession: he isn't a gamer.
In an interview with Katee Sackhoff, who pointed out that the adaptation is a "daunting property," Moore said: "Yeah. And I'm not a gamer, so it's even more like, 'I've never done this before.'"
"I've tried [playing God of War] – I mean, I'm not a gamer. I took a stab at it, but I grew up in the arcade era where you go down and you put your quarters in, and bang on the buttons. I can do that, I'll play Defender, or Asteroids, sure, bring it on, baby … but the controllers now – press R1, which one's R1? Oh, I'm dead."
This, of course, shook fans, who decided it was a bad sign.
"Why do studios exclusively hire people who have zero passion for the source material? There’s a reason Peter Jackson made such great Lord of the Rings films.. he actually loved the books!" said one X/Twitter user.
"So the show is already cooked eh? This is what made the Fallout and TLOU adaptations special; their showrunners loved the games and could fully appreciate what made them great," added another.
But is it really that important? Moore is a profound screenwriter and producer: he has worked on Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and many other shows and even received Emmy and Hugo awards, so does he really need to play games to understand them and shoot great series? I'm sure he has familiarized himself with the original story, so there is no need to panic yet.
Back in 2022, Amazon promised the show would be both "true to the source material" and "compelling on its own." However, last year, the project lost its showrunners and producers and was started from scratch. This might be an alarming sign or a chance at something fresh – we will see when the God of War series finally gets released.
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