The Last of Us is widely regarded as one of the greatest video game series ever created. As a flagship IP for PlayStation, the first game was met with universal praise when it was released on the PS3 in June 2013, with Metacritic users still praising it as one of the best games released on the console. 

More importantly, The Last of Us and its sequel, The Last of Us: Part 2, released on PS4 in 2020, set new gold standards for storytelling in video games. When a TV adaptation was announced, fans were worried about how its transition from video game to TV screens would be handled, not least because most video game adaptations have been critically panned (just take a look at the reviews for the Resident Evil TV series).  

Thankfully for The Last of Us fans, HBO’s adaptation – which is largely penned by series creator Neil Druckmann alongside Chernobyl’s screenwriter, Craig Mazin – has been met with similar praise to the games. It’s HBO’s second-largest debut since 2010, and currently holds a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Typically, most movie and TV adaptations of video games stray too far from the source material, but The Last of Us has been praised for doing the opposite. And with the video game industry now worth more than film and TV combined, the success of The Last of Us might demonstrate that gamers, first and foremost, should be the core target audience for any video game adaptations. 

But The Last of Us is just one of many video game franchises that are due to make their way to movie and TV screens. There’s a new Super Mario Bros. film around the corner, Amazon is working on a God of War TV series, and while we don’t have dates for them yet, some of the other video game IP confirmed for an adaptation include: Days Gone, Streets of Rage, Space Channel 5, Megaman, Bioshock and many, many more. 

A recent article in WIRED explores how video games are tapping into transmedia to create world-building franchises. This is, of course, something that film, TV and comic properties have been doing for decades, but the positive reception to The Last of Us and Super Mario Bros. coupled with the fact that there are more video game players than ever before could lead to a new generation of video game IP fleshing out their universes across other creative mediums. 

Film and TV will eventually become a core part of the business strategies for platform holders such as PlayStation and Nintendo, similar to how both companies have been experimenting with mobile strategies to expose their IP to new audiences. 

There are obvious benefits to this. The Last of Us: Part 1 got off to a slow start when it was re-released on PS5 in September ‘22 because of its $70 price tag, but UK physical sales for the game jumped by 238% after the launch of the TV series. Similarly, sales for the PS4 physical version of the game jumped by 322%. So, there’s strong evidence that successful video game adaptations aren’t just great exposure for the IP; they’re great for boosting sales numbers too. 

Given the somewhat shaky history of video game TV announcements (many projects are announced only to remain in a purgatory-like state of pre-production) it’ll be interesting to see if growing demand for film and TV adaptations of gaming IP speed up the process of projects such as the Metal Gear and Gear of War films that were announced many years ago. 

Video games have become one of the hottest places to market new products, and that’s especially true for the fashion industry, according to a recent op-ed in The Guardian. Louis Vuitton, Supreme, Palace, Puma, Uniqlo, Lacoste, Burberry, Balmain, Prada and Gucci are just some of the brands that have collaborated with or featured in video games. In fact, it would probably be quicker to mention the brands that haven’t entered the gaming space yet – so what’s going on? 

While major collaborations such as Ralph Lauren giving its logo a Fortnite makeover or Minecraft and Burberry teaming up for digital and physical capsule collections, fashion houses tapping into gaming audiences aren’t anything new. 

One of the major breakthroughs between the two industries came when Lightning, the protagonist of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII video game, became the face of Louis Vuitton for its SS16 campaign. But even then, the idea of video game characters being used as digital models can be dated all the way back to 1999 when the protagonist from Kenji Eno’s D games was used to model clothes from Yohji Yamamoto. 

What we’re seeing now is a natural evolution of that. Similar to how video games are now using film and TV to reach new audiences, a growing number of high fashion and streetwear brands are using video games to do the same thing. 

As Louis Vuitton is probably not the first brand that springs to mind when someone mentions Japanese role-playing games, this could be the first time that many of Final Fantasy XIII’s younger players encountered the brand inside a game. And we’re sure that some of those players – even if it’s a small percentage of the 7.7 million people who purchased the game – will have converted into Louis Vuitton sales. 

One of the reasons virtual fashion is so hot right now is that there’s a growing focus on user-generated content in video games. Developers have more tools at their disposal to create authentic digital clothing, which gives players a seemingly infinite number of ways to express themselves through in-game fashion items as they dress their characters and avatars in their favourite clothing. 

But simply putting virtual versions of your clothing into a video game is no guarantee that it’s going to sell. There are several things you need to consider, from the functionality and transferability of your clothing to how it looks and, perhaps more importantly, how much it costs. 

The functionality and transferability of virtual merchandise is usually dictated by the game or platform it’s made available on, but any digital clothing you can transfer from one game to another (such as on the Roblox platform) is always going to make for an easier sale when it comes to justifying the cost. 

Similarly, if your virtual clothing has a tangible use outside of just making your character or avatar look great, that’s another reason for players to purchase. Examples of this might be an achievement or award for purchasing a full clothing set, or some cosmetic items offering in-game power-ups such as special abilities. The branded Dragon Ball characters in Fortnite are a great example of this. 

Finally, make sure you consider your target audience and how well your fashion brand aligns with the game or platform. Streetwear brands such as Supreme and Carhartt will inevitably turn heads in a new Skate or Need for Speed game, but could feel out of place in a role-playing game such as Final Fantasy. 

Some brands can get around this as long as the collaboration or campaign is activated in a way that feels genuine. Burberry and Minecraft aren’t two brands that people would typically associate with each other but the creative for the campaign is done in a way that both Burberry fans and Minecraft fans will love.