What Netflix’s THE ELECTRIC STATE Video Game Reveals About Gaming Strategy
By Movieguide® Contributor
Netflix has launched a prequel video game to THE ELECTRIC STATE, immersing fans in the movie’s world and letting them explore the relationships of the main characters.
The video game, “The Electric State: Kid Cosmo,” take place five years before the movie and expands the relationship between orphaned teenager Michelle — played by Millie Bobby Brown in the movie — and her younger brother Chris. While they have a strong relationship, it is difficult to explore in the movie because they are separated, and Michelle is working to reunite them. In the video game, though, they are together the entire time, and players can better understand just how close they are.
“[The game] does expand upon the relationship that the lead characters have in the movie, Michelle and her brother Chris,” explained director Anthony Russo. “So it does get into that part of their relationship that we don’t follow in the film, that kind of predates the film, but also post-dates the film as well. And the game is able to explore that relationship in more depth.”
“We certainly explore the relationship very thoroughly in the movie, but there’s just a limit in a two-hour medium to how much ground you can cover, in terms of story,” Russo continued. “So the game does hold something very special in terms of like, who these people are, what their relationship is to one another, and how it evolves and grows over time. And I think people will find it very relatable. It’s a wonderful, complicated brother-sister relationship in everything that that entails.”
Part of Movieguide®’s review of the movie reads:
The movie has high production values with excellent acting from leads Pratt and Brown, a paring of American and British talent that elevates every scene they share. The voice acting also stands out, while the movie’s impressive special effects capture the nostalgia of the late 1990s and push one forward into a reimagined, futuristic world. The movie’s worldview is a fusion of biblical morality where virtual technocracy is dystopian and some postmodern Romantic elements, such as questionable sympathetic views of cybernetic beings. The movie’s final message is that “Real life is contact,” not virtuality. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for adults due to thematic elements, foul language, and violence.
READ MORE: THE ELECTRIC STATE REVIEW
The release of this video game to further explore the world introduced in the THE ELECTRIC STATE follows the plan for how Netflix envisions its game library will play into its business strategy.
When Netflix Games first launched, the streamer had high expectations for how it could enter the gaming industry. In the three and a half years since, however, these expectations have become more grounded as it has realized just how difficult it can be to break into the gaming sphere. Now, rather than funneling millions of dollars into high-budget games, the company is focusing on smaller-scoped experiences that build upon IP introduced through its shows and movies.
THE ELECTRIC STATE isn’t the only movie to receive a game around the time of its release. Netflix released a game to generate hype for the second season of SQUID GAME, while CHICKEN RUN also received a video game adaptation when its sequel was released at the end of 2023.
READ MORE: CHRIS PRATT-LED MOVIE GETS NETFLIX VIDEO GAME AS STREAMER BUILDS GAMING PLATFORM
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