Steven Spielberg is one of the most legendary directors of all time, but his filmmaking prowess is not the only thing that identifies him. As recently discussed by his son, the Jaws director has a penchant for playing video games, particularly one of the biggest franchises of all time. In true Spielberg fashion, the filmmaker dabbles in blockbuster video games in between directing massive movies of his own.
During an interview with MinnMax (via Kotaku), Max Spielberg spoke about his father’s love for gaming, revealing that he is strictly a mouse and keyboard player. It was Steven who got his son into gaming, and it’s now Max who lets his dad know whenever a new Call of Duty is out. The veteran director is a big-time fan of shooters, no surprise as the
“He loves gaming. He’s the one that got me into it. He plays games. He’s a big PC gamer and so that’s kind of our bonding point as well. He’s like, ‘Hey what’s good’, ‘What are the new [shooters?]’, ‘Which
Call of Duty
should I be playing?’ You know, like ‘Just send me a list of the top five shooters and I’ll get ‘em downloaded and we can play them together when you come over to the house.’”
Although Steven is an avid gamer, he won’t pull out a handheld controller to play on consoles. This means he is missing out on amazing console-exclusive titles like Uncharted, a blockbuster adventure franchise on PlayStation spiritually inspired by Indiana Jones. This is a big point of contention for Max, who has tried to get his father to try an entirely new facet of video games to no avail.
“He’s big into story games and I’m always trying to get him to play
Uncharted
, I’m like it’s Indiana Jones, you’d appreciate this. And he’s like ‘I can’t do controllers. I can only do keyboard and mouse.’”
Spielberg Has a Long History With Video Games
For those who meticulously follow his work, this is not the first time it’s been made known that Steven Spielberg has a passion for video games. He created the video game franchise Medal of Honor in 1999, crafting the story and overall concept for the first-person shooter. It spawned several sequels, which were released on PC and consoles. In 2013, Spielberg became attached to the live-action Halo television adaptation through Amblin Entertainment, which then went through years of stilted development before premiering on Paramount+. He served as an executive producer for both seasons of the recently canceled show, a divisive project that did not justify more seasons despite a well-received second outing.
It’s not a secret, but it’s fair to say Spielberg’s penchant for video games is not widely known by movie lovers, especially since his contributions to the medium have been hidden deep behind the scenes. Spielberg has not personally directed a video game adaptation, but his last major action blockbuster was a love letter to the popular format.Ready Player One, an adaptation of a book of the same name, was a pop culture mash-up of different major IPs. Although it’s getting an easter egg-filled sequel at some point, it seems Spielberg is not keen on doing a direct adaptation of a video game. (Get him on a Call of Duty film asap).