Games Should Not Use Movie Concepts, Says J.J. Abrams

J.J. Abrams, the movie director currently in charge of both Star Wars and Star Trek, says that his collaboration with game developer Valve will result in experiences suited to the medium rather than in movies translated to a new genre.

The movie maker tells Gamasutra that, “One of the things that’s really appealing about working with Valve is that they’ve got great taste, and that we will have the ability to work with people and not impose what we do on them.”

He adds, “We’re not looking to make movies in the game space. We’re looking to make great games that take the strengths of what we know – characters, world-building, creating a sense of emotional connection – and trying ways to try to exploit that in the gaming space, which is a very different animal than movies and TV.”

Abrams has seen movies that have failed to impress because they started out as television shows and wants to avoid a similar situation in its collaboration with Valve.

Bad Robot, the production company in charge of future Abrams projects, and the team behind Half-Life and Portal have announced that they are collaborating on unannounced future projects during DICE 2013.

It’s yet unclear exactly what kind of video game they might create together and whether they are based on movie properties.

Valve is known for being secretive about its future releases and only offers official information when it is close to launch date or when a leak takes place.

Fans have been speculating for years that Half-Life 3 is in development, but Valve has neither denied nor confirmed the many rumors linked to the game.

Since Episode 2 was released, the development team has created two Left 4 Dead video games and two Portal titles.

The company is evolving its Steam digital distribution service, adding new tools for the community and increasing the user base.