Sony’s mission to create an adaptation of every popular PlayStation console exclusive is progressing apace, with the firm announcing yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that it plans to make films based on both Helldivers 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. The company has confirmed that the movies are in development, though nothing is currently known about the expected release date or involved talent of the productions.
“Looking ahead as to what might come next, I’m excited to announce we are working with Sony Pictures on developing a film adaptation of our amazingly popular PlayStation game Helldivers 2,” said head of PlayStation Productions Asad Qizilbash on-stage during Sony’s CES 2025 conference. The Horizon Zero Dawn project was then revealed shortly afterwards, with the Sony calling the franchise “one of our most exciting IPs filled with so much potential to expand into new categories and genres.” Notably, one such case of Horizon, well, expanding its horizons came in November of last year, when Guerilla Games and Studio Gobo released a family-friendly, action-adventure game spinoff of the open-world series called LEGO Horizon Adventures.
When published, both films will join big-screen PlayStation adaptations already developed by Sony and its leading movie subsidiary Columbia Pictures. These include 2022’s Uncharted and 2023’s Grand Turismo, both of which were successful; there’s also an Until Dawn movie scheduled to debut on April 25 this year, as well as a live-action Ghost of Tsushima film on the way. For television, Sony has produced the extremely popular The Last of Us show and Twisted Metal, and is working on a God of War TV series with Amazon and a Ghost of Tsushima anime with Crunchyroll.
I wasn’t shocked to see an announcement for Horizon Zero Dawn come, as the cinematic journey of tribal warrior Aloy and her mission to hunt predatory machine animals in the post-apocalypse always struck me as a natural fit for the big screen. What did surprise me, however, was the news of an adaptation for Helldivers 2. Arrowhead Game Studios’ sci-fi co-op shooter franchise only recently got massively popular with the sequel’s explosive release last year, and its emergent, player-driven live-service story isn’t one that you can just copy-paste into a motion picture.
Then again, the grandiose visual effects spectacle of Helldivers 2’s various weapons and stratagems would be perfect for a Michael Bay-style action movie, and I can totally see the film’s producers putting together a satirical anti-fascist narrative much like Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers — a series that Arrowhead has directly pointed to as one of Helldivers’ biggest (and most obvious) inspirations. Starship Troopers star Casper Van Dien was even pushing for a crossover last year.
Something worth pointing out is that amusingly, Sony actually owns the rights to both Helldivers 2 and Starship Troopers, so we could see some funny easter eggs and references to the 1997 classic make their way into the former’s upcoming movie. Perhaps Van Dien will be cast as one of its characters, though only time will tell if something like that actually ends up happening.
Either way, as a huge fan of Helldivers 2 myself, I’m pretty excited to see what Sony cooks up for the game’s cinematic premiere. I can’t say the same for the Horizon Zero Dawn movie — I’ve never really found that series very enjoyable, personally — but I’ll still probably give it a watch. After all, I was never big on The Last of Us, either, but I thought the TV show was fantastic.
Helldivers 2 itself has had peaks and valleys (mostly peaks) since its launch in February last year, but right now, it’s at a particularly high point. The long-awaited Illuminate faction got a big shadow drop during The Game Awards last month, and as someone who’s spent dozens of hours fighting the squid-like aliens since, I can say with confidence that it’s pretty much everything I could ask for out of a new enemy for Super Earth to contend with. The update that added it led to a huge boost in concurrent players and propelled the game’s sales past Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2.
Helldivers 2 stands tall as one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to play if you’re into co-op shooters, intense sci-fi action, goofy physics antics, and goofy satirical writing. It’s typically $40, though you can often get it for less if you shop around for discounts. Right now, the best one is CDKeys’ sale that shaves $10 off the price, allowing you to get the bombastic title for just $30.
