The last decade alone has seen a major shift in how entertainment is produced and consumed, and while the future isn’t set in stone, Avengers: Endgame and The Electric State directors Joe and Anthony Russo have predicted that “linear visual storytelling” is in for a big shake-up once Gen Z becomes the dominant consumers of media. In a new interview, the duo explained how the future of entertainment could be dominated by projects that embrace both gaming and traditional formats to tell a story.
“We are in the biggest transitional moments in the history of linear visual storytelling,” Joe Russo said to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s very hard to say in this moment where it’s going because a lot of that is going to be dictated by the taste of Gen Z once they become the dominant consumers. And I don’t know that anyone knows what their taste is yet because they have been trained on a completely different model of consumption than we are used to. I expect radical change, I expect immersion, I expect a blending of virtual and linear, gaming and linear.”
The Russos are already experimenting with a two-pronged approach to their projects, as The Electric State has a companion game scheduled to arrive later this month. The directors have also mentioned how they’re “open” to having video games developed based on their next two Marvel movies, Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. This also lines up with previous comments by Russo about how he believes the future of entertainment will be dominated by gaming.
Another example of how entertainment is evolving to appeal to Gen Z can be seen in the recent reveal of ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium re-imagining for mobile. The studio recently revealed how it wants to make the game playable in short bursts, as the game has been redesigned to fit smartphone screens in vertical mode and it has been enhanced with “360-degree scenes” and brand-new audio so that it can feel more immersive.
