ARC Raiders and The Finals Are Heading to Film and Television

Embark Studios is looking beyond the world of video games. Two of the Swedish developer’s biggest titles, ARC Raiders and The Finals, are now set to expand into film and television through a new partnership with Chernin Entertainment.

The agreement marks a significant step in Embark and parent company Nexon’s plans to turn the two games into larger entertainment franchises that can exist beyond their original interactive formats.

From Video Games to the Big and Small Screen

Chernin Entertainment has secured the rights to develop film and television projects based on both ARC Raiders and The Finals.

Exactly what those projects will look like remains unclear. Neither company has confirmed whether ARC Raiders will become a movie or television series, for example, or whether both properties could eventually receive adaptations in multiple formats.

There are also currently no announced directors, writers, cast members, broadcasters, streaming services or release dates attached to the projects.

According to reports, Chernin Entertainment won the rights after competing against several other production companies interested in adapting Embark’s games.

The company has considerable experience with major entertainment properties, making it an interesting partner as Embark attempts to transform its games into broader multimedia franchises.

ARC Raiders Feels Made for a Screen Adaptation

Of the two games, ARC Raiders may be the easiest to imagine as a traditional science-fiction movie or television series.

The extraction adventure takes place on a devastated future Earth where humanity has been driven underground by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC.

Players take on the role of Raiders who venture back to the dangerous surface in search of equipment and resources. The world is filled with abandoned settlements, enormous machines and other Raiders who may be just as dangerous as the robotic enemies roaming the landscape.

That setting provides plenty of room for stories that do not necessarily need to follow the events or characters players encounter directly in the game.

A television series could, for example, explore the collapse of civilization, the arrival of ARC or entirely new groups of survivors trying to live in this hostile world.

The Finals Offers Something Completely Different

The Finals could present an entirely different challenge for filmmakers.

Rather than the post-apocalyptic science fiction of ARC Raiders, The Finals revolves around contestants competing inside spectacular virtual arenas as part of an intense futuristic game show.

Its destructible environments are one of the defining characteristics of the game. Walls disappear, buildings collapse and arenas can change dramatically during a match.

Turning that concept into a television series or movie could result in something very different from most current video game adaptations.

The game-show structure also leaves plenty of room to explore the world surrounding the competition. An adaptation could potentially focus on contestants, sponsors, the people running the tournament or even what life outside the virtual arenas actually looks like.

For now, however, that remains speculation.

Embark Will Remain Involved

One encouraging part of the announcement is that Embark Studios won't simply hand over its creations and walk away.

Embark founder Patrick Söderlund says the developer’s creative teams will work closely with Chernin Entertainment throughout the process.

The goal is to make sure the creative identity behind ARC Raiders and The Finals survives the transition into completely different forms of entertainment.

Söderlund described the agreement as the next major step toward transforming both games into interconnected experiences reaching beyond gaming.

That involvement could prove important. Both titles rely heavily on atmosphere and visual identity, and those qualities will need to survive the move from interactive worlds to traditional storytelling.

Video Game Adaptations Continue to Grow

The announcement also arrives during a period when Hollywood's relationship with video games has changed considerably.

For decades, adaptations of popular games had a rather unfortunate reputation. More recently, successful movies and television productions have demonstrated that gaming properties can become major entertainment franchises when handled carefully.

ARC Raiders and The Finals are particularly interesting choices because neither started life as a decades-old gaming franchise.

Embark Studios was only founded in 2018, and The Finals launched in 2023. ARC Raiders followed in 2025. The fact that both properties are already attracting interest from major film and television producers demonstrates how quickly successful modern games can expand beyond their original medium.

Still Very Early Days

Anyone hoping to watch ARC Raiders on television next year should probably keep expectations under control.

The projects appear to be at a very early stage of development, and there are currently no confirmed production schedules or release windows.

What we do know is that Chernin Entertainment, Nexon and Embark Studios intend to bring both worlds beyond gaming.

And they certainly have interesting material to work with.

ARC Raiders offers a haunting science-fiction world filled with mysterious machines and struggling survivors, while The Finals provides a flashy dystopian game show built around spectacle and destruction.

Now comes the difficult part: turning those worlds into stories worth watching rather than simply games worth playing.

Source: FZ.se, with additional information from Embark Studios and reports surrounding the Chernin Entertainment and Nexon partnership.