The long-in-the-works adaptation of the Blake J. Harris book Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation has taken another interesting turn, and it looks as though it might finally happen. Seth Rogen and Evan Godlberg signed on to adapt the book as a feature film back in 2014, before it was even released, but getting it off the ground has proved difficult. Console Wars goes behind the scenes of the many battles between Sega and Nintendo, which kicked off in the 1990s and transformed computer games into a global industry in and of itself. Harris’ book was crafted by conducting hundreds of interviews with those who were involved in these companies at the time, and so boiling that down into a feature-length film was a difficult task. At first, Rogen and Goldberg planned to produce a documentary that would be released before their narrative film adaptation.
But now, Variety reports that Rogen and Goldberg have decided to craft their adaptation as a limited series instead of a film, with Kong: Skull Island filmmaker and self-professed video game fanatic Jordan Vogt-Roberts attached to direct. Mike Rosolio (American Vandal) is writing the pilot, and it’s unclear if Vogt-Roberts will direct the whole series or just the first episode. After Kong: Skull Island, Vogt-Roberts has been working hard to get his adaptation of the video game Metal Gear Solid off the ground, but so far the film hasn’t received a greenlight.
Vogt-Roberts has experience in the TV realm, though, having helmed the pilot and subsequent episodes of the FXX series You’re the Worst. He also directed the live-action trailer for the video game Destiny 2, and he’s one of the more exciting filmmakers working today so I’m curious to see his take on the material.
Rogen and Goldberg will executive produce Console Wars alongside Vogt-Roberts, Rosolio, James Weaver, Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, and Julian Rosenberg. The project is not currently set up at a network, but one imagines this thing will be in high demand, and it’s now high on my list of anticipated TV projects currently in the works.
