It was just announced that Naughty Dog’s wildly successful and popular title, The Last of Us, is getting a movie adaptation.

And although it would not be the first time that filmmakers and studios have toyed with the idea of taking a blockbuster piece of interactive media and turning it into a piece of cinema, I think that now would be an appropriate time to talk about the implications of adapting a video game into a motion picture.

It’s not that I’m unhappy with the fact that interactive media is starting to gain more attention for the strength of its storytelling capabilities—and I think it’s fair to say that these titles are being picked up by studios in large part because of their stories. On the contrary, I am quite excited: I think video games can tell damn compelling stories and it’s nice that non-gamers are starting to realize that.

The reason why they’re so good at delivering compelling stories, however, has to do primarily with the methods that they go about doing so. In other words, their medium.

Interactive Media succeeds in delivering content via methods that are very often unique to video games. Because of this, changing medium from game to film will not only be challenging, but create a large potential for a severe case of “lost in translation.”

Films are typically between 1 1/2 — 2 hrs long. But even if we allot a hefty 3 hrs of screen time, filmmakers will still be handicapped by time limitations. Some games can take 3 times as long to complete, and while it is true that gameplay takes up a lot of time, a lot of that gameplay is still delivering narrative.

Is it possible to trim a substantial game like The Last of Us, or Uncharted, or Assassins Creed, or Halo into a 2—3 hour film? Probably; yes. But the real question is, will it retain the source material’s vitality?

It is inevitable that things will have to be trimmed and cut in order to adapt a video game into a movie. And this where the most potential for failure arises. Cutting for the purpose of fitting a time constraint will usually result in a loss of storytelling pedigree.

Video games tell stories over the course of 6-20 hrs and thus, removing material is inevitably increasingly the likelihood that that story might not be told as well. Less material = Less story. But it does not have to be that way. This is why video games that are made into films are likely not to work.

The successful film adaptation, however, will understand that while less will have to suffice, it must make up for that lacking. It needs less to equal more. In general, good adaptations are able to do this even when they must cut material. They understand that a narrative is important, but that preserving narrative without preserving tone is a recipe for disaster.

So, will The Last of Us be a good film? Perhaps; it’s hard to tell now. But I think we can say is that unless filmmakers find a way to cut heaps of material, something that will inevitably happen, while still retaining as much original storytelling depth as possible and being as faithful to the plot as possible, it’s going to be underwhelming.