ARC Raiders and The Finals Get Film and TV Adaptations

Embark Studios is taking its shooters off the PC and onto the screen. The Nexon-owned developer has announced a partnership with Chernin Entertainment to adapt both ARC Raiders and The Finals for film and television.

It's a short announcement with a big idea behind it, and it leaves a lot unsaid.

Who Is Chernin Entertainment?

Not every gamer will know the name, but some of its recent work might sound familiar. Chernin Entertainment produced the film adaptation of The Backrooms, the internet horror phenomenon that grew out of online communities rather than a traditional studio pipeline. It was also behind The Last House, a film made for Netflix.

That first credit is worth noting. The Backrooms didn't start life as a book or a comic. It came from internet culture, and bringing that kind of property to the screen takes a different approach than adapting a novel. Chernin has some experience there.

What We Actually Know

Very little. Both companies are clearly excited about the deal, and the announcement says so. Past that, there are no details.

The key question is which game becomes what. The announcement mentions film and television, but it doesn't say which game is headed for which format. ARC Raiders could become a movie and The Finals a series. It could be the other way round. Both games could get both treatments, or only one format could actually happen in the end. Right now nobody outside the two companies knows.

There's also no word on release windows, casting, directors, writers, or which streaming service or distributor might be involved. All we can say for sure is that adaptations are planned and that Chernin is the production partner.

Two Very Different Games to Adapt

What makes this pairing interesting is that Embark's two games aren't the same kind of project. Each one comes with its own challenges for screenwriters.

ARC Raiders has been in the spotlight a lot lately. The game recently went free-to-play with the launch of Frozen Trail, a move that should bring in a lot more players. The pressure on the team behind it hasn't gone unnoticed either. One developer admitted not long ago that the team is "super tired". Adding a film or TV project to that schedule raises questions about how much the studio itself will be involved, though the announcement doesn't cover that.

The Finals has its own identity, and it's a different one. That's probably why the companies are keeping their options open on format. A series and a feature film need very different things from their source material.

Fair to Be Skeptical?

Game adaptations have a mixed history, and multiplayer games are an especially tough sell. A big single-player campaign hands writers a ready-made story, characters, and an ending. A multiplayer shooter often gives them a setting, a mood, and a lot of player-made moments that don't add up to a plot.

That doesn't make it impossible. It does mean whoever writes these projects will probably have to invent much of the story themselves. Fans will be watching to see whether that new material respects the games or just borrows the logo.

The Bigger Picture

This deal suggests Embark and Nexon see ARC Raiders and The Finals as long-term brands, not just live-service games with a shelf life. Putting a franchise on screen is a bet that people will still care years from now, since film and TV production moves much more slowly than a seasonal update cycle.

For players, the practical impact is close to zero for now. Nothing about the games changes, and there's no timeline to plan around. Still, it's worth watching whether ARC Raiders' free-to-play push grows its audience enough to make a screen version feel like a sure thing rather than a gamble.

The next real signal will be the first concrete detail: a format, a platform, or a creative lead. Until that arrives, this is an intention rather than a production, and it should be treated that way.