Top 5 worst video game TV adaptations: New study shows audiences find big budget franchise a downer
Los Angeles (Press Release): A new study has revealed that 'Witcher: Blood Origin' is the worst-rated video game to television adaptation in recent years. Online gaming magazine Gaminggadgets.de analyzed online audience review scores for video game TV show adaptations from the past six years, to find which shows have been the least popular among fans.
Audience review scores were taken from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Metacritic, and IGN, to calculate an average score out of 10 for each adaptation. Each TV show was then ranked from lowest to highest score, to determine which was the least popular.
Witcher: Blood Origin (2022)
This ranked the lowest out of all entries with an average audience score of 3.6 out of 10. While it received 7 out of 10 from IGN, it also scored 1.2 out of 10 from Metacritic and 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. 'Witcher: Blood Origin' is a fantasy miniseries created by Netflix that serves as a prequel to 'The Witcher' (2019), which ranked sixth overall. Both series are adaptations of the Witcher game franchise.
Resident Evil (2022)
This came close behind in second place with an average audience score of 3.83 out of 10. It also received 7 out of 10 from IGN, but only scored 1.5 out of 10 from Metacritic and 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. IMDB ranked the show lower than 'Witcher: Blood Origin' with 4.2 out of 10. 'Resident Evil' is an action horror television series that is loosely based on the video game series of the same name and was released by Netflix.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021)
This ranked third with an average audience score of 5.48 out of 10. Its lowest individual scores were a 41% user rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 5 out of 10 from Metacritic. 'Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness' is a Japanese horror-action CGI animated miniseries created for Netflix, based on the video game series 'Resident Evil'.
Halo (2022)
This came fourth with an average audience score of 6.08 out of 10. It received 7.2 out of 10 and 7 out of 10 from IMDB and IGN respectively, but its overall score was dragged down with 4.9 out of 10 from Metacritic. 'Halo' is a science fiction television series developed for the streaming service Paramount+, based on the video game series of the same name.
Castlevania: Nocturne (2023)
This ranked fifth with an average audience score of 6.6 out of 10. Its highest score was 9 out of 10 from IGN, though it received 45% from Rotten Tomatoes and 4.6 out of 10 from Metacritic. 'Castlevania: Nocturne' is an adult animated action series created for Netflix and is based on the video game series of the same name, specifically 'Castlevania: Rondo of Blood' (1993).
“With adaptations for games such as 'Fallout' and 'Bioshock', as well as further installment of existing shows in the works, we wanted to deep dive into what has worked well, and not so well, with audiences so far,” says Nico Arnold, Editor at Gaminggadgets.de.
“Video game adaptations need to strike a balance between pleasing an existing gaming audience, while attracting new viewers. Otherwise, they can end up alienating both demographics if they fail to follow the source material and are poorly written and directed.
“Notably, four out of the bottom five entries are live-action adaptations, which could suggest that animation is the more fitting medium for video game adaptations, due to its similarity in style to the original formats.
“With the exception of HBO’s adaptation of 'The Last of Us', live-action adaptations, such as 'The Witcher: Blood Origin' and 'Resident Evil', tend to receive much lower scores on average.”
