It was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Sony Interactive Entertainment has created PlayStation Productions for the sole purpose of producing television shows and movies. The twist here is that the shows and movies developed will be based on Sony’s catalog of over 100 video game titles.
Asad Qizilbash was named as the head of PlayStation Productions while Shawn Layden, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios chairman, will be overseeing the new division. The studio will be headquartered in Culver City, California at Sony Studios.
While it hasn’t been stated which IPs are getting the film and television treatment, Sony did state that there projects in production right now. Sony opted to produce adaptations in house rather than outsource the licenses to other studios. Sony Studios, another division of Sony’s film and television division, will aid with distribution.
Shawn Layden had the following to say about this new venture:
“We feel that now is a good time to look at other media opportunities across streaming or film or television to give our worlds life in another spectrum. It would be a lofty goal to say we’re following in their footsteps, but certainly we’re taking inspiration from that. The real challenge is, how do you take 80 hours of gameplay and make it into a movie? The answer is, you don’t. What you do is you take that ethos you write from there specifically for the film audience. You don’t try to retell the game in a movie.”
Qizilbash added that a game’s story will determine whether or not an adaptation will be made into a television show or film. He said they are not in a rush to push content out the door by saying that they don’t have X amount of titles to release within a timeframe. That’s not their goal.
Either way, this sounds incredibly interesting… especially since TV and movie adaptations of video games have heavily and constantly sacrificed quality in the past.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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