During a panel at the Paley International Council Summit this week called Source Code: How Hollywood and Video Games Are Leveling Up Together, Fallout TV series creator Jonathan Nolan and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer discussed the coming together of both mediums.
The success of the Fallout TV show was also a huge factor here, and Spencer suggested that its success may have been partially attributed to avoiding releasing a new game within the franchise around the same time. Also, the freedom of not having to launch anything tied to a game.
Fallout TV Series: No New Game Release Allowed Creative Freedom, Says Phil Spencer
Spencer explained that coordinating the release of both a new game and a major TV adaptation could have been a challenge. “We didn’t have a new game lined up for the launch, and I think that gave us creative liberty that we wouldn’t have had if we tried to coordinate two very different creative processes,” he said. The focus, Spencer emphasized, was on a long-term strategy rather than a short-term push to drive sales.
It shows how the industry has moved on from when games routinely had their timelines compressed to hit movie or TV launch dates. That strategy has since evolved into a high-efficiency, low-liability creative process that better reflects how we should create work today. Spencer further noted that the Fallout video game experienced a considerable sales increase following the Amazon Prime Video debut of the show, even in the absence of a new game release.
Nolan also revealed what you can expect from the Fallout TV series season 2. He mentioned that season two will incorporate even more flashbacks than the first, which he said worked well in the series due to the flexibility of TV storytelling. “In games, it’s a little harder grammatically to flashback,” Nolan explained, noting that the first-person perspective in many games limits narrative structure. In contrast, TV shows have more freedom to explore different time periods, a storytelling technique that will be expanded in the upcoming season.
FAQs
Will there be a new Fallout game released alongside season 2?
No, according to Phil Spencer, the Fallout TV show’s success benefited from not having a new game launch at the same time.
- Advertisement -What can we expect from Fallout season 2?
Fallout season 2 will feature more flashbacks, offering a deeper exploration of the world and its characters.
