Popverse's top stories

• Marvel TV, DC K.O. an Agents of SHIELD reunion, and a new Game of Thrones show head up New York Comic Con 2025's loaded panel schedule
• Despite blistered feet and a 12-inch wig, a young girl reminded me why I only cosplay heroes like All Might and Captain America
• DC’s Tom King, Spider-Man’s Dan Slott, Transformers’ Daniel Warren Johnson and so many, many more are tabling at NYCC ‘25’s Artist Alley: Get a look at the full list right here

If you've been on the internet long enough, you've probably noticed that no one's talking about the "video game curse" in movies anymore. That is, the idea thta video games are unadaptable to film, as evidenced by a (long, admittedly) series of critical and box office flops based on games that were the exact opposite. However, all that is different now, and if you're looking for a reason why, we've got an explanation from some of the most in-the-know-folks in the game.

Those folks are Dmitri M Johnson and Mike Goldberg, the co-founders behind game-to-movie specialist studio Story Kitchen. In case you didn't know, Story Kitchen was a driving force behind Prime Video's Tomb Raider series and, maybe more importantly, the billion-dollar Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Speaking on an episode of The Game Business Show, the pair got into the primary reason that video game adaptations were known to fail in the past, and what's changed.

"It is mission critical," says Goldberg, "If the games rights holder, the developer or publisher, or both, is not involved or is minimally involved, it will be to the detriment of the adaptation. It's worse than playing your hand in Las Vegas [at the] craps table. They need to be involved. You would be erasing the creative engine that has built these characters, these worlds, these tones, these fans."

Johnson jumps in to point to the original, widely-panned Super Mario Bros. movie form 1993, saying it's an example of film studios and video game creators not "finding the right balance" of creative ownership of the adaptation.

Goldberg continues to say that, when Studio Kitchen was founded, video game creators had their ideas respected maybe 25% of the time, to which Johnson responds:

"25 is too high."

Now, the pair see the breakdown as an 85/15% breakdown of Hollywood respecting game creators' ideas vs. not, and as the article above points out, we have things like The Last of Us, 2023's Super Mario Brothers movie, and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog as proof of that. Even still, says Goldberg, that 15% is made up of studios who make choices "really to their detriment, and we specifically go out of our way to not work with them."

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer:

• All upcoming games in 2025 and beyond
• Gamify My Life, our weekly gaming column designed
• Popverse Picks: The best Assassin's Creed protagonists
• How to play every GTA game in order
• Why the GTA 6 budget isn't as crazy as you think
• The Magic: The Gathering x Spider-Man crossover set wouldn't exist without the Spider-Verse

And be sure to check Popverse regularly for the latest gaming news.