Hey guys, my first post here and I thought I would ask the biggest Berserk fans on the web my burning question: is there any hope for future licensed Berserk video games? I’ve played all of the available Berserk video games including the Japanese exclusive PS2 title and I can’t help but wish for more. My dream is a true Berserk video game that lives up to the greatness that Miura left us with. What are the legalities behind it all? Is there any hope of a big studio getting the rights to make a triple A big budget Berserk game?
Any hope for future Berserk video games?
- Thread starter Hound_Draco
- Start date
I would say the door is wide open for Berserk games. Just in the past decade, there have been several Berserk partnerships with various mobile games like Puzzle & Dragons, Granblue Fantasy, and I've certainly forgotten others. Then there was Berserk Musou (localized as Berserk and the Band of the Hawk), and Black Desert Online (a MMORPG). It's quite a list! But were any of those good...? Errr 
Any licensing decision would likely come from Hakusensha, if not BERSERK FILM PARTNERS (yes, all caps), which was established back in 2012 as a way of producing and merchandising the Berserk movie trilogy. Their interest seems to be all about short-term money, not necessarily making the Berserk brand bigger.
They've been quite loose with the Berserk license recently. But it wasn't always like that. There was a time when Miura wanted to have a hand in such licensed games. For the Dreamcast game, he did a considerable amount of work: Scripting the scenario, contributing enemy and character designs. For the PS2, he designed Charles and his unique story sequence. Over time he pulled back from putting his stamp on such things, and sometime around 2012, when the movies came out, the quality control filter was dialed back, and before long there were many games with Berserk crossovers.
In the near future, I wouldn't expect a dedicated Berserk game like we saw on the Dreamcast and PS2. Those were good at introducing Berserk to a new audience while also exciting existing fans. I can't say with any authority, but I don't think a Puzzle & Dragons crossover necessarily nets more Berserk readers. But it does give Hakusensha a piece of the mobile gatcha game money generation. So, I think we can look forward to more of that.
Finally, I'd say that what makes a good Berserk game is really difficult to nail down. @Aazealh and I talked about this extensively on Minipodcast #8 a few years back. Failing that, I think Berserk fans can always just ride the Berserk vibes one feels when playing a Souls game or Elden Ring.
Any licensing decision would likely come from Hakusensha, if not BERSERK FILM PARTNERS (yes, all caps), which was established back in 2012 as a way of producing and merchandising the Berserk movie trilogy. Their interest seems to be all about short-term money, not necessarily making the Berserk brand bigger.
They've been quite loose with the Berserk license recently. But it wasn't always like that. There was a time when Miura wanted to have a hand in such licensed games. For the Dreamcast game, he did a considerable amount of work: Scripting the scenario, contributing enemy and character designs. For the PS2, he designed Charles and his unique story sequence. Over time he pulled back from putting his stamp on such things, and sometime around 2012, when the movies came out, the quality control filter was dialed back, and before long there were many games with Berserk crossovers.
In the near future, I wouldn't expect a dedicated Berserk game like we saw on the Dreamcast and PS2. Those were good at introducing Berserk to a new audience while also exciting existing fans. I can't say with any authority, but I don't think a Puzzle & Dragons crossover necessarily nets more Berserk readers. But it does give Hakusensha a piece of the mobile gatcha game money generation. So, I think we can look forward to more of that.
Finally, I'd say that what makes a good Berserk game is really difficult to nail down. @Aazealh and I talked about this extensively on Minipodcast #8 a few years back. Failing that, I think Berserk fans can always just ride the Berserk vibes one feels when playing a Souls game or Elden Ring.
Hey there. Like Walter said, in theory nothing prevents a studio from licensing the series, and it does get licensed regularly for shitty mobile game cross-promotions, typically using the 2016 anime license ("Berserk Partnership"). For a "real" game however, well that's more complicated.
Berserk is heavily story- & character-driven, which means it doesn't lend itself well to adaptations where the player is in control. That's why the Dreamcast game was so "on rails", and that's why the PS2 game took big liberties with the story and got pretty repetitive. Compounding the issue is the fact Berserk is aimed at adult audiences and therefore misses out on the kid and teen demographics, which is not what a studio wants for a licensed game. Lastly, the current state of the series isn't particularly conducive to quality adaptations, and to be honest I don't feel like the people in charge of it at Hakusensha would be able to competently vet such a project.
The sad part is that I have a number of ideas for Berserk games that I think would make for good titles in their respective genres while staying faithful to the material and being realistically feasible (scope, budget), but it's not like anyone's asking for my opinion.
