A ‘Breaking Bad’ video game was once in the works
(Credit: HBO)

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A 'Breaking Bad' video game was once in the works

Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, has revealed that there was “quite a few attempts” at bringing a video game based on the show to life. 

Recently, when appearing on the Inside The Gilliverse podcast, alongside Better Caul Saul showrunner, Pete Gould, the pair were asked about the possibility of making a video game in the style of Rockstar’s hit series Grand Theft Auto series. 

Gilligan explained that he’s “not much of a video game player but how can you not know Grand Theft Auto”. He then proceeded to divulge that early on in Breaking Bad’s life he did ask a couple of people, “who owns Grand Theft Auto?” about the potential of a collaboration. He said, “It still makes sense to me”.

He revealed: “There have been quite a few attempts at video games. Some of them kinda made it to market – we tried to do a VR experience with the Sony PlayStation VR headset, we did a mobile game that lasted a little while.”

Gilligan explained that the writers of Breaking Bad had actually “put a lot of energy and talent into writing three or four stories for different video games.”

“There were a lot of people hours poured into that,” he continued, saying that “making a video game is damn hard. It takes years and millions of dollars, especially when you’re trying to break new ground with VR. It never came to fruition though, which is a shame.”

He then turned his head to the Breaking Bad-inspired slot machine that once made headlines in Las Vegas, although he caveated his point by admitting that when he visited the city, he couldn’t find it. “It must not have been a big hit. It’s the same with video games, you don’t always know what’s going to click with people.”

The mastermind behind the hit neo-Western maintained that “the way fans love these shows makes us very proud and it’s very humbling. It makes me very cognisant of keeping the brand at as high a level as we can keep it. If you’re going to do a video game, you can’t do (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) for the Atari (a game regarded as one of the worst of all time and one of the biggest commercial failures in video game history). You gotta make it great. Execution is everything.”

Fans shouldn’t get their hopes up about a Breaking Bad game though, as Gilligan concluded that he “wouldn’t hold your breath about a video game.”