The original was an unexpected hit. Rising above the tide of urban sandboxes in 2006, the game pushed its tomfoolery further than even Grand Theft Auto dared. The most recent entry, however, was a misfire. 2022's reboot was busted across technical levels and tonally out of sync for fans. Last year, rumors arose that the series might get another pass, but Chris Stockman, design director for the original game, now says the long-running has a fork in it.
It is significant that the new Paramount regime's first move was to prise Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer away from Netflix. And Netflix, of course, have made their billions by upending the traditional pitch-session-to-cinema pipeline that had sustained the film industry for decades. They have signed up legions of the classiest directors, hogged nearly all the audience-friendly documentaries and premiered one water-cooler series after another.