Firewatch Passes 1M Sales and Gets Optioned As a Movie

Game ZXC

PC Gaming

By Denny Connolly

Published Sep 27, 2016

Campo Santo's Firewatch passes the one million units sold mark thanks to a delayed Xbox One release and the game may now have a film adaptation on the way.

Although 2016 is full of amazing AAA games like Uncharted 4 and The Division, don't be surprised to find Campo Santo's little walking simulator Firewatchnear the top of many game of the year lists in December. The short, first-person game is full of beautiful landscapes and a compelling, mysterious narrative and gamers have really connected with the indie title.

Firewatch launched a few months back on PC and PS4 and the game has now made its way to Microsoft's console, as well. With the first wave of Xbox One Firewatch sales factored in, the game recently passed the one million sales milestone. Game ZXC was a big fan of the game (read our review here) and isn't surprised at all to see sales staying steady thanks to positive reviews and strong word of mouth.

Thanks to strong sales, it seems like Firewatch is also about to become a cross-media franchise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the team at Campo Santo is teaming up with Good Universe to produce a film adaptation of Firewatch.

Campo Santo’s Sean Vanaman discusses the partnership...

“When we met Good Universe we were floored by how they recognise, cultivate and produce incredible stories. It’s rare you meet another group that shares so many of your values and makes the process of creating things even more exciting. We can’t wait to see what we make together.”

Anyone who has played Firewatch is well-aware that the game has a fantastic story full of branching dialogue trees and options. It would be very interesting to see how a story that puts so much control in the hands of players translates to a film that is only able to provide one path of the narrative. The game's compelling setting would still be interested to watch, but the narrative experience will definitely feel different without having control of Henry's words and reactions to the situation.

Firewatch is also a one man show for the most part, with the co-star only making appearances through a walkie talkie. This dynamic is part of what makes the game so great, so hopefully a film adaptation would stick to that formula. The game already has a fantastic cast between Mad Men's Rich Sommer and Life is Strange's Cissy Jones, but it seems likely that the roles would be recast for a film. Die-hard fans can certainly root for Rich and Cissy on Twitter until official casting has been announced.