Pixelbite, the studio behind award-winning mobile title Space Marshals has partnered with Studios Extraordinaire for a planned TV series and movie based on the title.
Space Marshals, the third instalment of which won Apple’s Game-of-the-Year award in 2021, is a top-down tactical shooter available on iOS and Android. Now developers Pixelbite are aiming to broaden the successful series’ appeal by adding a movie and TV show to the franchise. To do so they’ve partnered with Studios Extraordinaire, a studio that focuses on video-game adaptations, along with producer André Hedetoft.
CEO at Pixelbite, Mattias Olsson commented, “We’re thrilled to partner with André and Studio Extraordinaires to expand Space Marshals to TV and film.
“We’ve meticulously crafted the Space Marshals universe over the last decade and shared the experience with millions of players around the world. It’s been a pleasure to find someone as passionate, about building worlds and writing stories, as us. Can’t wait to see what we can come up with together.”
Hedetoft expressed his own excitement about the partnership. “Pixelbite has crafted an award-winning game that has captured the hearts of millions, and I’m excited to join forces with them to expand the universe through an animated adaptation. This is an opportunity to bring the game’s captivating characters, worlds, and adventures to life in a whole new way, and I can’t wait to share it with fans and new audiences alike”.
To the silver screen, and the other screen too
Adaptations of popular game franchises have slowly come into vogue, with the ‘curse of the video game movie’ sliding out of public consciousness via a slew of highly successful, high-quality adaptations for all ages and audiences. The Super Mario Bros Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog and Arcane have all been huge successes, critically and otherwise.
Perhaps the most prominent mobile game-turned-show is Raid: Shadow Legends and their recently announced short animated series Raid: Call of the Arbiter. These adaptations offer a way to introduce the parent games to a wider world and build a connection with audiences that other means of attraction, such as direct advertising, simply can’t achieve.
Whatever form Pixelbite’s project finally takes there’s no denying that it could prove a major boost to the game, and studio’s profile.
