<\/p>
When we first heard that filmmaker Neill Blomkamp was making a video game<\/a>, we were very excited. The director of District 9, Elysium and Chappy has a knack for creating gritty worlds with memorable sci-fi twists, which makes his gaming debut Off the Grid a highly promising prospect.<\/p>\n At the Gamescom 2022 conference in Cologne last month, Blomkamp spoke to RadioTimes.com<\/a> about his shift into gaming. There wasn\u2019t a demo of Off the Grid to play (the game is still a year or so away), but Blomkamp spoke enthusiastically about this latest world he\u2019s helped create. And he also told us that he still hopes to make sequels to District 9 and Elysium.<\/p>\n To start, what made Blomkamp want to get into gaming? Blomkamp told us (and you can watch the interview in video form by clicking into the player above, if you\u2019d prefer): \u201cBefore I got into filmmaking, I was an animator, and I\u2019ve always been obsessed with 3D-created environments. So I like games.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I really love, as an artist, building 3D places that people can go to. And really, that\u2019s what games are \u2013 you drop them into this environment. So when I was directing films, always in the back of my mind, I was thinking, at some point I want to work on a game.\u201d<\/p>\n Working in games \u201chas been very prevalent in my mind for quite a few years,\u201d Blomkamp told us, and eventually, the right opportunity did knock. As Blomkamp put it, \u201cRichard Morgan, the science fiction author, who\u2019s also involved with this game, contacted me and he was like, \u2018A lot of what we\u2019re doing is sort of influenced by Elysium, and do you feel like you\u2019d be interested in working on a game?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo I went to Kyiv and I went to Frankfurt, where Gunzilla is based. And I got to meet people. And [the game] felt like a cyberpunk dystopia, and all of the 3D environmental stuff that I felt like I wanted to work on, and it just felt like a good fit.\u201d<\/p> Blomkamp joined Gunzilla as the company\u2019s Chief Visionary Officer, with his involvement in Off the Grid being announced in July last year. It\u2019s a battle royale game that Blomkamp describes as being \u201cmore serious\u201d than the likes of Fortnite<\/a>, Apex Legends and Valorant.<\/p>\n \u201cThey may all have a similar shooter Battle Royale vibe to them,\u201d Blomkamp explained, \u201cbut I would say that this is a little bit more older-skewing science fiction in the way that it\u2019s presented and feels.\u201d<\/p>\n In terms of the story setup for Off the Grid, Blomkamp told us: \u201cThe game is set at the moment where, the age-old cyberpunk trope of mega-corporations being more powerful than government \u2013 the game takes place at the moment that the balance has shifted, so it\u2019s like early cyberpunk.\u201d<\/p>\n You shouldn\u2019t expect to see a single-player campaign here, though, no matter how rich the world is.<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus is to try to make a really a super entertaining battle royale,\u201d Blomkamp clarified in the interview. \u201cThat\u2019s the goal. But there\u2019s so much world building that has been done, and so much world building that\u2019s been sort of fleshed out, that there are lots of interesting narrative journeys that you could go on within what\u2019s being built.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is, trying to find a way to bring that into something like a battle royale, which is very complicated, in a way that will be positive for players. And so that\u2019s the phase that we\u2019re in now.\u201d<\/p>\n We look forward to visiting this latest world from Blomkamp\u2019s mind, but is there any chance of a return ticket to the worlds he\u2019s created before? With the likes of District 9 going years without a sequel, is it by design that Blomkamp has never revisited any of his previous projects?<\/p>\n Blomkamp told us: \u201cI mean, creatively, I would love to go back to District 9 and Elysium. So yeah, I have no problem doing that. I want to go back to them.\u201d<\/p>\n As to whether District 9 star Sharlto Copley would return for a sequel (despite his character\u2019s fate in the first film), Blomkamp said: \u201cYou can\u2019t make a District 9 sequel without Sharlto.\u201d And he added that \u201cwe have ideas\u201d as to how that could work.<\/p>\n Copley, who is currently starring in the Lion-fighting film Beast with Idris Elba, also told RadioTimes.com<\/strong> recently that he is keen to return for District 10<\/a> (or whatever the sequel would be called), but he thinks the film is still \u201canother two years\u201d from being a reality.<\/p>\n In the meantime, then, Blomkamp\u2019s Off the Grid game should tide us over nicely. Ahead of the game\u2019s launch in 2023, you can watch the game\u2019s first promotional short film below.<\/p>