It's not easy making a video game, otherwise, there would be many Breaking Bad games. Series creator Vince Gilligan, who also co-created the hit spinoff series Better Call Saul with Peter Gould, touched on the franchise's false starts in the video game world. On the latest episode of the Inside the Gilliverse podcast, Gilligan revealed how he had attempted to collaborate with Rockstar Games to make an open-world video game in the vein of Grand Theft Auto. This is said to have happened "early on" while Breaking Bad was on the air.
"We did (have video game discussions) early on. I'm not much of a video game player, but how can you not know of Grand Theft Auto? I remember saying... 'Who owns Grand Theft Auto? Can't you have a module? Can there be a Breaking Bad (game)?' It still makes sense to me. That never came to fruition."
In subsequent years, more video game attempts had been made, as Gilligan explains. He also notes a Breaking Bad experience for the Sony PlayStation VR with an original story written by Jenn Carroll was one project that almost happened. Gilligan also mentions the short-lived mobile game Breaking Bad: Criminal Elements, which was launched in 2019 and shut down the following year. He'd like to see more of a Breaking Bad presence in video games, but it's just never seemed to work out.
"There have been quite a few attempts at video games. Some of them kind of, sort of made it to market. We tried to do a VR experience with the Sony PlayStation VR headset. We tried to do a mobile game, it lasted for a little while. Jenn Carroll... Jenn is amazing... She put a lot of energy and a lot of effort and a lot of talent into writing three or four different stories for three of four different video games, including the VR thing. There was a lot of people hours poured into that. But making a video game is hard. What I learned through this process is that it literally takes years and millions of dollars, especially when you're trying to break new ground with VR and whatnot. That never quite came to fruition. It's a shame."
Don't Get Your Hopes Up for a New Breaking Bad Game
Gilligan agrees that the same standard of quality that they hold for the Breaking Bad shows would be something they'd require for a video game adaptation. He points to the failed E.T. video game for Atari that's infamously known as one of the worst games ever released. Gilligan also mentions a Breaking Bad slot machine that previously made its way to Las Vegas, but he wasn't able to find it the last time he was in the city, suggesting it may not have been a hit. In any case, given the past difficulties in getting Breaking Bad games made, Gilligan doesn't want fans to get too excited about any new games coming in the future.
"If you're going to do a video game, you can't just do the E.T. Atari video game version. You've got to make it great. The devil is in the details, and the execution is everything. We just don't have enough bandwidth usually to make it work. So, I wouldn't hold your breath on any video game."
As of now, Gilligan and Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould have no plans to explore the Breaking Bad universe any further. The franchise will end, for now at least, with the Better Call Saul series finale.