The eleventh London Games Festival took the capital by storm last week, with the Games London team running a huge range of events exploring the cultural, entertainment and commercial value of gaming.

Away from the business deals being struck at the Games Finance Market and the first-look thrills of New Game Plus, Screen Play took a deep dive into the intersection between games, film and TV.

Film London CEO, Adrian Wootton OBE, highlighted an exciting convergence between the industries that seemed almost inconceivable when the Games Festival first began. “Games are at the centre of culture, life and spending,” he said, highlighting the success of crossover projects like The Last Of Us, Fallout, Super Mario Galaxy and Iron Lung, as well as pointing to the upcoming adaptations of Elden Ring, Bloodborne and Tomb Raider.

Welcome To The New World - Worldbuilding Across Games, Films and TV

The day’s first panel, explored worldbuilding and brought together Mark Maslowicz, Vice President, Partnerships & Investments at Tencent, Helene Juguet, the Head of Film and TV at Ubisoft and Ryan Geddes, Director, Publishing Product Management, EMEA from Riot – the studio responsible for both the smash hit League Of Legends and its stunning animated adaptation, Arcane.

Mark was keen to highlight how developers should focus first and foremost on making their games as good as they can be and successfully bringing them to market before starting work on a transmedia strategy. He also highlighted how the needle was shifting, with new generations already aware of the storytelling power of games rather than having to be convinced of their worth as a medium.

Helene agreed, and suggested making your gaming world open to reinterpretation by fans and creators was key to modern worldbuilding. “It’s the fans who will truly inhabit your game and create within it,” she said. “You have to give them the tools to make their own stories.”

These comments rang true for Riot: “League of Legends players were asking how else they might be able to explore that world,” said Ryan. He described a “zigzagging journey” from game to TV series, but one that put the people who developed the game at the heart of the adaptation. “We worked with people from Riot who knew the game inside out before going to [animation company] Fortiche,” he said. “Rather than go to another company and say ‘we’ve got this IP…’ we started internally.”

Creating transmedia stories that span decades - From Judge Dredd and Sniper Elite to Atomfall

Rebellion’s work spans games, film, comics, board games, vinyl records and more besides, meaning their 35-year history offered ample food for thought when it comes to the transmedia debate. A lively discussion between Ben Smith, Head of Film, TV & Publishing, Victoria Justice, Director of Consumer Products & Ecommerce and Senior Community Manager Hollie Jones explored everything from business strategy to the studio’s archival endeavours and the power of a loyal, hugely committed fanbase.

“We maintain and sustain characters, stories and worlds across decades,” said Ben of Rebellion’s outlook, and with a catalogue of IP that stretches back 135 years the company are truly putting their money where their mouth is.

While stories in one medium many naturally lend themselves to other mediums, Victoria was clear that there has to be a sense of logic to any crossovers. “It has to make sense,” she said. “It can’t be forced.”

Hollie concurred, and was quick to point out that Rebellion’s fan community would be the first to let the studio know if anything didn’t sit quite right. “For example, historical accuracy is hugely important to Sniper Elite and the fan community,” she said. “Even down to the types of button on a military uniform.”

While the studio recently took Sniper Elite back to the Napoleonic age with a tie-in novel, a far more futuristic type of warfare is currently in Rebellion’s sights: Duncan Jones’ cinematic adaptation of the 2000AD comic strip Rogue Trooper, which dropped its first teaser shortly after the event.

https://youtu.be/byd5PRryi_Y?si=UQLCaDYcts4vPqAA

The Future Of Storytelling

Focusing on two very different stories – a gritty, near-future police procedural and a calm, cosy adaptation of The Day I Became A Bird­ – the day’s third panel brought together Nihal Tharoor, Co-Founder of Scriptic, Andrew Ruhemann, Founder of Passion Pictures and moderator Anna Mansi of the BFI. Nihal and Andrew spoke of their own creative journeys – variously involving copywriting, documentary-making, BAFTA nominations, Gorillaz and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Nihal discussed Scriptic’s approach, stating that the aim was to “make you feel like you’re the main character in a crime drama,” and to “tap into that fandom with intuitive gameplay.” Scriptic’s latest project, an-as-yet-untitled thriller, is set to feature a star turn from Fantastic Four and Nosferatu actor Ralph Ineson.

Andrew, meanwhile, made his directorial debut adapting children’s book The Lost Thing, which he followed up with an adaptation of The Day I Became A Bird, which made use of game engine technology. The story was then made into a video game, which drew crowds at the Games Festival’s New Game Plus event.

Nihal highlighted how Scriptic made use of a range of British talent, from developers through to writers with credits for the likes of Channel 4, HBO and The BBC.

With the stories they work with spanning games, film and books, it seemed fitting that Anna ask where the panelists thought storytelling might be heading over the next decade. “It’s always about trying to connect and understand the human condition,” said Andrew. “Regardless of the format we all tend to cry and laugh at the same things, and we all face the uncertainty of what happens once our time on Earth is up.”

Two Industries divided by a common language

Taking a break from the day’s stream of storytellers and worldbuilders, Simon Pullman, Partner and Co-Chair of Pryor Cashman’s Media + Entertainment and Film, TV + Podcast Groups, offered a series of fascinating insights into how the film and games industries can better work together rather.

He highlighted the how the two industries, while increasingly important to each other, often remained at loggerheads given the different cultures, needs, understandings and histories at play.

As Hollywood has a growing appetite for games IP and games companies need Hollywood’s development and production expertise, the goal should be partnership and that requires deeper understanding and literacy on both sides.

From Tombs to TVs: Transmedia Tips from the Pros Working on BAFTA’s Most Iconic Video Game Character of All Time

Closing the day on a high note were Dmitri M. Johnson and Dallas Dickinson of Story Kitchen, an indie production company renowned for focusing on videogame and 'non traditional' IP adaptations. The company’s Sonic The Hedgehog films have been phenomenally successful, and their upcoming slate includes Streets Of Rage, Shinobi, Split Fiction and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Tomb Raider TV series.

The high-energy conversation chat flitted between topics, from early Tomb Raider buzz (“Phoebe Waller Bridge is a Tomb Raider super fan, and 200 per cent more charming than you already think she is,” said Dmitri) to the passion required to chase down the rights to a project for eight years (in Dmitri’s case, Teddy Ruxpin – a script he waxes lyrical about).

Like many of the day’s panelists, Dmitri and Dallas said that perceptions around games were changing in Hollywood and that part of the perceived ‘video game curse’ was less about talent or vision than choosing projects for the wrong reasons. “People were picking games because of sales numbers rather than interesting characters or stories,” he said. Dallas suggests that, in large part, Story Kitchen’s success stems from being able to meet the games industry on its own terms. “A lot of it is about building trust,” he says. “It’s about being open to looking at early specs, listening to soundtracks, and looking at alpha to see what’s going on.”

“You have to really care,” adds Dmitri. “You also have to assume that a lot of people won’t necessarily know about Teddy Ruxpin or Sonic, so you have to figure out how to make people beyond your core audience care, while at the same time honouring that core audience. Hearing him talk about his various projects and ideas, we somehow don’t think bringing people onboard and convincing them to care is much of a challenge for Dmitri: his love for his work is neatly summed up by a simple anecdote: “my mom laughs that my office looks like my teenage bedroom,” he says, and we certainly believe him.

Click here to read more about the London Games Festival 2026