Blade Runner Game In Development?
Isn't it about time?
With the resurrection of 1982’s Blade Runner by a 2017 sequel that nobody apparently asked for (it flopped, despite incredible photography and cinematography), it’s nothing short of a wonder why gaming developers haven’t jumped on the license. This is especially true, considering that there has been some development behind the IP, like Ridley Scott collaborating with Amazon on a Blade Runner 2099 television/streaming series.
Well, that’s about to change because, according to GameSpot, a Swedish cloud-based gaming developer and publisher, 110 Industries, has reportedly acquired the license to adapt the IP into a Blade Runner game. The announcement came from the studio’s new Switzerland branch, with a proposed 2025 release window for the upcoming game. Unfortunately, not much else is known about the project, except that the official announcement and trailer reveal will happen in the near future.
This won’t be the only Blade Runner game ever produced, though. Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep novel was previously adapted into video games before 110 Industries acquired the rights. Unfortunately, those games didn’t see much success, except for 1997’s Blade Runner, a point-and-click adventure game that sold one million units during the decade following its release.
The 1997’s Blade Runner game was a success, but due to high development and deployment costs, the profit margin was low. The mere fact that the game was deployed via four CDs (Steam and Epic Games Store weren’t really a thing back then) made it a very expensive game to produce. As a result, despite the commercial success, the game never got a sequel. Its source code and asset were lost, and it took the company eight years to reverse engineer it to create a re-release of the game.
It’s unknown whether 110 Industries is planning on adapting the mainline entries of the cinematic franchise or developing a brand-new narrative that’s set in the Blade Runner universe. What kind of game the studio plans to produce, in terms of genre and gameplay mechanics, is all up to speculation for the time being since there’s virtually no detail surrounding the game, except that it may be in active development.
The impact the alleged game may have on the films also remains up to speculation. The 1982 Blade Runner is considered the first mainline entry in the franchise, followed by a 2017 sequel, the animated series Blade Runner: Black Lotus, and a live-action television/streaming series that’s currently in development at Amazon. Now that 110 Industries has acquired the licensing rights, it’s entirely possible that the series’ future lies in Blade Runner games. For the unbelievers, just look at how 2013’s Tomb Raider (a video game) revived the franchise.
The upcoming Blade Runner game, tied to a movie that inspired CD Projekt RED to make Cyberpunk 2077, isn’t the only futuristic project 110 Industries is currently working on. The company has three projects known the be in development, including Wanted: Dead (TBA 2022), Red Goes Faster (2023), and Vengeance is Mine (2023). The list of supported platforms and release date for the alleged Blade Runner game remain unknown at the time being, but we’ll keep the readership updated as further details unveil.
