Why movie tie-in games are rarely sold anymore

Until the early 2010s, it was almost a guarantee that any blockbuster movie would get an accompanying video game. These were often critically panned, but every now and then produced a gem like Spider-Man 2 (2004) or X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Though the production of movie tie-in games hasn't completely ceased — the Lego adaptations are still going strong, for example — it's nowhere near the release rate of a few decades ago.

In 2007, over 30 licensed games based on movies were released. In 2025, the closest we got were in-game additions connected to movie releases, like a dedicated event server in Minecraft for its movie or Fortnite skins for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. But a few recent happenings have revitalized nostalgia for this bygone gaming era. We've recently seen the shadow-dropped Lord of the Rings: War in the North, a remaster of a 2011 game largely inspired by Peter Jackson's trilogy. There's also the upcoming dual release of Toy Story: Retro Roundup! and Toy Story 3: Complete Edition, a revitalized compilation of the titles based on the classic films.

But what killed move tie-in games, and could we ever see them return?