Grounded, the shared world adventure game by Obsidian Entertainment, is growing as an animated TV show. Deadline reports that the series will be handled by Brent Friedman, who previously worked on Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Gearbox’s Tales from the Borderlands.
This makes Grounded the latest video game franchise to cross over into another form of media. Xbox and other major companies have become keen on expanding the reach of their IP.
In Grounded, players take on the role of a teenager who’s been shrunk down to the size of an ant with their three friends and must now learn to survive in a backyard. Along with survival, the teens endeavor to find out why they were shrunk in the first place. After entering early access in July 2020, the game will release in full this September. The TV series is expected to take place in the same world as the game.
Xbox and Obsidian will be working on the series alongside production studios Kinetic Media, Bardel Entertainment, and Waterproof Studios/SC Productions. In a conversation with Deadline, Bardel CEO Tina Chow praised the partnership as “one of great collaboration, expanding on an already wonderful journey of exploration and adventure.”
More games, more shows
Grounded marks the second Xbox game to receive a TV adaptation, with the first being Paramount+’s Halo. Both games follow a larger trend in recent years of video games being adapted into television in films. Multiple video game-inspired TV series are in development, with many of them in production at Netflix, such as 2K’s Bioshock and a second season of Riot’s League of Legends: Arcane.
In recent years, video game adaptations have become more popular and successful. Netflix struck big with their adaptation of Konami’s Castlevania, leading to a spinoff series, Nocturne, expected to hit the streamer in 2023. And in theaters, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog movies and Sony’s Uncharted film have become global successes.
At this time a platform or network for the Grounded TV series has yet to be announced.