One of the most sci-fi developments within games this year had to be the introduction of gaming to vehicles, as seen at BMW, Tesla and now Honda. A natural progression, and one that’s ubiquitous in any future-based movie, but that also throws up a whole host of new issues around safety. On top of this, it does make you question how healthy it is that, as a species, we are becoming less and less capable of spending any downtime without a screen to point our eyes at. This is definitely a trend set to grow, and we at Beyond Games will be watching its progress with great interest (and one foot hovering over the brake).
Original story by Paige Cook follows:
Video game developer Sam Barlow, who is responsible for the creation of titles such as the recent Immortality and Her Story has stated he was once offered by Tesla to put his game into their car.
Let’s set the scene for you.
Tesla’s already have a limited range of gaming skills but securing something as fully formed (and universally loved) as Her Story would have been a great coup for the brand and a genuine indication that gaming in cars could – one day – be ‘a thing’.
Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla recently secured the acquisition of the massively popular social media platform Twitter, and, it would seem that in light of this, Barlow decided to use the platform to share a story regarding a discussion he once had with Tesla.
Barlow tweeted that Tesla had reached out to enquire if the developer could port the interactive film video game Her Story into their cars. So far so good, but when Barlow asked how much he would be paid for use of the licence and to cover engineering work to get the game to run on a Tesla dashboard, Tesla responded with, zero…
Tesla instead suggested that Barlow should consider the exposure that he, and the game, would get if the game came to a Tesla car.
Tesla once reached out to ask to put her story in a car. I asked how much they would pay for the license and to cover the engineering work- they suggested zero, that I consider the exposure I would get
— Sam Barlow 🔥 Buy IMMORTALITY! (@mrsambarlow) October 31, 2022
Barlow, in a second tweet, stated that “Her Story in a car remains one of the sillier ideas I’ve heard”
And that’s not all
Software and video game company Panic founder Cabel Sasser — whose company published the Untitled Goose Game — replied to Barlow’s tweet saying “Same re: Goose” implying that the same offer had been made by Tesla to have the Goose game added to their cars.
Tesla however is not the only car manufacturer that is exploring the idea of incorporating video games into cars. BMW has previously announced that it partnered with cloud-based game platform AirConsole to offer games in BMW vehicles as early as next year.
The idea of having video games in cars is one that many have debated. Given we live in an age where the majority of people have mobile phones, is there much of a change in thinking regarding the widespread adoption of gaming inside cars?
Games in cars? But surely…
The big talking point is the topic of safety of course. Over 30 countries have driving laws that make it illegal to use a handheld device while driving and some of these laws also extend to the car being stationary, such as being stuck in traffic.
If using mobile phones is deemed a major distraction, could one argue that having access to games is too? In light of these concerns, Tesla and BMW have both stated that games will only be playable when a car is not in motion. However, if you can only play while being stationary — and this would need to be for a period that makes sense that a user could progress in a game — then why play in the car at all? in those circumstances using a phone or tablet would may seem a more likely scenario.
So, while you may not be playing Sam Barlow’s titles in a car anytime soon, you can however jump in and read our story that recently covered Barlow’s latest title Immortality, and how movie video games could adapt in the future.
