One of the most acclaimed and popular television shows of the last few decades was Breaking Bad on AMC. Its spin-off, Better Call Saul, has also been extremely popular and successful. Now, before the final episode of Saul, the creator behind both shows, Vince Gilligan, has confirmed that there were plans and efforts to make a video game set in the Breaking Bad universe, but it never happened. And he warns those who still want a game not to hold their breath.
As spotted by ComicBook.com, Gilligan appeared on a recent episode of the Inside The Gilliverse podcast to talk about the final episodes of Better Call Saul, the legacy of Breaking Bad, and the future of the franchise and its characters. But at one point in the podcast, Gilligan was asked about the lack of Breaking Bad video games and if they ever wanted to make a game set in that universe. Surprisingly, Gilligan was very honest, admitting that they tried to make a game, but that it never happened for various reasons.
“I’m not much of a video game player, but how can you not recognize Grand Theft Auto?” Gilligan said on the podcast. “I remember saying to the guys — [who] are off running Apple now… who originally said yes to Breaking Bad — ‘Who owns Grand Theft Auto? Can’t you have a module, can’t there be a Breaking Bad [add-on]?’ still makes sense to me!”
Gilligan seems to suggest that he or his people at one point approached Rockstar Games about doing something based on Breaking Bad, although by his own admission, he’s not a big gamer, so he unclear No matter who he talked to about making a Breaking Bad game similar to GTA, it never happened. And this isn’t the only time a Breaking Bad game has been discussed, planned, and then ultimately shelved.
“There have been quite a few attempts at video games,” Gilligan said. “And some of them hit the market. We tried to make a VR experience with the Sony PlayStation VR headset. We made a mobile game that lasted for a while…”
According to Gilligan, a lot of “energy and effort and talent” went into writing new stories for different games that never happened. And although a mobile game was released, it barely lasted a year before shutting down in 2020 with little fanfare. As for why none of these projects and planned games ever happened, it seems to come down to a simple fact: Video games are a pain in the ass to make.
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“Making a video game is really bad, from what I learned through this process,” Gilligan admitted. “It literally takes years and years and millions of dollars, especially when you’re trying to break ground with VR and whatever. Never came to fruition. It’s a shame.”
Another potential roadblock is that Gilligan and his team are very concerned about ensuring that anything with the Breaking Bad name on it meets their high quality standards. During the podcast, he joked about the E.T. game for the Atari 2600, joking that they didn’t want a game based on the show that was so bad it was buried in a desert. Instead, any game using Breaking Bad characters and set in that world would have to be “fantastic” and would have to include all the details.
With all that said and Better Call Saul coming to an end later this month, and Gilligan saying he has no plans to revisit the franchise anytime soon, it’s unlikely the world will get the Breaking Bad game it deserves. In fact, Gilligan warned those of you who might be waiting for a GTA-like game starring Walter White that you shouldn’t “hold your breath” on it ever happening at this point.
