Neill Blomkamp, director of film hits District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, is bringing his creative vision to the video game industry by working on a new AAA multiplayer shooter. Hollywood has had an intriguing history with the games industry. While games based on movies and vice versa don’t historically have a great track record, games have inspired many films in recent years, and major actors starring in games is also becoming much more frequent.
Blomkamp joins an increasing number of Hollywood talents with ventures in upcoming video games. One example is Fast and Furious’s Vin Diesel, who is currently involved in the production of Ark 2 as an executive producer of both the game and animated series. Other names include director Guillermo del Toro’s appearance in Death Stranding, Giancarlo Esposito starring as the central villain of Far Cry 6, and indie game Twelve Minutes, which stars Daisy Ridley, James McAvoy, and Willem Dafoe.
In an interview with IGN, Blomkamp revealed that he’s working as Creative Visionary Officer of an unannounced AAA multiplayer title coming out of new studio Gunzilla. Gunzilla is comprised of former EA, Crytek, Ubisoft and other studio developers. Blomkamp’s role doesn’t end with the release of Gunzilla’s title, as he is poised to stay with Gunzilla for the foreseeable future if the project does well. Without particular specificity, Blomkamp explained that his role in the company is to help manage the game’s direction in various departments, but he said that he won’t be making decisions without confidence from the team at large. He will also be receiving help from other senior executives at Gunzilla, sharing:
“The difference [from directing a film] is not acting like a single point that guides the creative team. It’s making sure that you’re integrated into the team in a real way. I can come in with a very definitive point of view, but it has to work on two levels. It has to be accepted by the greater team as the right creative direction to go in. And it also has to be, first and foremost, something that can integrate into the architecture of gameplay in a way that’s beneficial to the game.”
The District 9 director says that while he is new to the game development process, he loves playing games – especially shooter games. Blomkamp says that though Gunzilla’s game is multiplayer, the story’s narrative will still be prevalent and engaging for players. How he will implement his ideas for the narrative will weave naturally into the gameplay loop. Blomkamp likens his role to George R.R. Martin’s help with Elden Ring and its world, while the developers at FromSoftware fleshed out the story inside it.
Blomkamp sees video games as the next logical step in his career. He believes that video games will be the entertainment juggernaut of the 21st century the same way movies were in the latter half of the 20th. With that mindset, he hopes that his experience with the game will prepare both himself and Gunzilla for a future he thinks will be dominated by the interactive mediums of entertainment.
Hopefully, Blomkamp’s first foray into the gaming industry is successful. His expertise with sci-fi and near-future stories could translate well into future games by Gunzilla, where he plans to stay for a long time. Unfortunately, it seems it might be a while before it’s revealed what exactly he and the rest of the studio are working on.
