After the runaway success of The Last of Us and A Minecraft Movie, the studios have been aggressive with video game IP, but there is plenty more out there.
British research firm Ampere Analysis has dug deep into the world of gaming to come up with what it believes are the four next titles ripe for adaptation.
Ampere floated BAFTA 2024 best game winner Baldur’s Gate III, Black Myth: Wu Kong, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Sons of the Forest as the quad of video games that could be coming to a big or small screen next, noting that they each have “strong popularity,” are “recent releases,” and contain “distinctive worlds.”
Off the back of a super five years for video game IP, Ampere searched through the gaming archives leading on eight key characteristics to come up with its list. Characteristics included a defined narrative, adaptation style, franchise popularity and addressable audience.
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“Studios have moved quickly to secure the biggest and most obvious game franchises, but our research shows there is still significant untapped potential in the market,” said Ronald Santa-Cruz, Research Manager and Games Subject Matter Expert at Ampere Analysis. “For studios willing to look beyond the usual suspects, there remains a strong pipeline of game IP that could translate into the next major transmedia success.”
Some of the biggest shows and movies of the previous few years started life as video games and Ampere said commissions of IP have increased by an average 30% since 2019. Major studios, including Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Netflix, Comcast, and Amazon have already secured rights to 10 marquee game franchises, with the likes of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Legend of Zelda all coming up.
Driven by the recent success of high-profile titles such as The Last of Us and A Minecraft Movie, the market has shifted decisively towards live-action adaptations and away from animation, added the research firm. In 2025, 69% of commissioned adaptations were live action, more than double the share from the previous year. In the second half of 2025 alone, 18 new game adaptations were commissioned, with 78% of these live action.