Nexon's Big Bet: ARC Raiders and The Finals Are Both Heading to Film and TV

In an industry where publishers typically shop one property at a time, Nexon has done something unusual: it has handed both of its flagship shooters to a single production company. ARC Raiders and The Finals, the two titles from Stockholm-based Embark Studios, are now set for film and television adaptations under Chernin Entertainment, the studio behind last year's breakout horror hit Backrooms. Nexon confirmed the deal in a press release, with trade press reports from outlets including Variety and Deadline detailing the competitive bidding process that preceded it.

The announcement arrives at a carefully chosen moment. ARC Raiders is days away from its largest content update to date, and The Finals is weeks out from its twelfth season.

What the deal is not, at least for now, is a finished product. There are no writers, directors, cast members, or release dates. And there is a genuine ambiguity at the center of the announcement that readers should understand before the speculation machine kicks into gear.

The Deal: What Nexon and Chernin Actually Announced

Chernin Entertainment, the film and television division of The North Road Company founded by former News Corp. chairman Peter Chernin, has been set as lead producer on adaptations of both ARC Raiders and The Finals. According to the announcement, Chernin prevailed in a competitive bidding process, beating out a field of production companies and studios that had pursued the rights.

The deal covers both film and television for both games. That phrasing, however, leaves a meaningful question open: it is not yet clear whether each game will receive both a movie and a series, or whether Chernin plans to earmark one property for film and the other for television. Readers should treat the announcement as covering film and TV rights across both IPs without assuming four distinct projects are in motion.

The official framing is expansive. Patrick Söderlund, founder and CEO of Embark Studios and Executive Chairman of Nexon, described the agreement as "the next big step in growing ARC Raiders and The Finals into deeply integrated transmedia experiences." David Ready, President of Film at Chernin Entertainment, called the games "ambitious global IP with the potential to become major franchises across film and television."

Embark's creative teams are expected to work closely with Chernin throughout development, a detail that matters for fans concerned about fidelity to the source material.

One caveat worth stating plainly: this is early. Embark executive producer Aleksander Grondal said in September that the team was still in the "early phase" of exploring other mediums. Nothing about the current announcement contradicts that.

Why These Two Games: The Numbers Behind the Pitch

Both properties bring receipts.

ARC Raiders has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide since its October 30, 2025 launch, making it Nexon's biggest launch ever. The game's path was not straightforward: originally announced in 2021 as a free-to-play co-op shooter, it was reworked into a $40 PvPvE extraction shooter set on a post-invasion Earth in 2180. That pivot now looks like one of the sharper calls in recent publishing history.

The Finals, meanwhile, has registered more than 30 million players since its December 7, 2023 debut. It is a free-to-play first-person shooter set inside a virtual combat game show in the year 2100, a premise inspired by The Hunger Games, The Running Man, and Gladiator.

The two properties differ in ways that may shape how each translates to screen. The Finals' game-show structure is inherently episodic, rounds, eliminations, a rotating cast of contestants, a format that maps naturally onto serialized television. ARC Raiders, by contrast, is built around a survival extraction loop on a hostile Earth, a more contained, feature-shaped premise that could suit a two-hour film. These are structural observations, not confirmed plans, but they offer a useful lens for the format question that Chernin has yet to answer.

ARC Raiders also carries an awards pedigree that strengthens any adaptation pitch: Best Multiplayer at The Game Awards 2025, Online Game of the Year at the 29th D.I.C.E. Awards, and Best Multiplayer at the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards. A trophy shelf like that gives a producer something concrete to point to when pitching to studios and streamers.

Why Chernin: The Studio Behind Backrooms

Chernin Entertainment's appeal is easy to trace. Backrooms grossed over $400 million worldwide on a reported $10 million budget, one of the strongest return-on-investment stories in recent film. That single result demonstrates both commercial instincts and an ability to execute genre material at scale.

The studio's television credits are equally relevant given the deal spans both formats. They include Apple TV's Chief of War, Truth Be Told, and See, along with Netflix's The Madness and Man on Fire. Chernin is also co-producing a Mega Man adaptation with Capcom for Netflix, evidence of an existing appetite for game IP.

There is a corporate wrinkle worth noting. In January 2026, Mediawan announced an agreement to acquire Chernin's parent company, The North Road Company. How that ownership change affects the development pipeline for these adaptations remains an open question, though no disruption has been signaled.

The Transmedia Gold Rush: Gaming's Hollywood Moment

This deal does not exist in a vacuum. The industry is in the middle of an adaptation boom: Helldivers is slated for 2027, Elden Ring and Call of Duty for 2028, The Legend of Zelda is in development, and Sega has struck a Netflix deal spanning Sonic, Crazy Taxi, and Stranger Than Heaven.

The proof of concept is no longer theoretical. A Minecraft Movie grossed more than $961 million, the fifth-highest haul of 2025. HBO's The Last of Us and Prime Video's Fallout are established hits. A 2026 Resident Evil reboot opened to $60 million. Game adaptations have shed their long-standing reputation as cursed projects.

What distinguishes Nexon's move is its structure. Rather than licensing out a single property to a single partner, the company is building a multi-IP transmedia strategy under one roof, with one producer. The goal is not one hit adaptation but a franchise ecosystem.

What We Still Don't Know (And What to Watch)

The most consequential unknown remains the film-versus-TV assignment. Until Chernin or Nexon clarifies which IP goes where, or confirms that both will receive both formats, any specific claim about a movie or series for either game is speculation.

No creative talent is attached. No writers, no directors, no cast. Embark has characterized its exploration of other mediums as early-stage, and nothing in the announcement changes that timeline.

There is also a creative-direction question mark worth tracking. Embark has previously drawn criticism for its use of AI text-to-speech voiceovers in both games. For a screen adaptation, that history carries practical implications: casting and talent negotiations with unions that have taken a firm stance on AI in entertainment, and reputational risk with actors who may weigh a studio's creative practices before signing on. If the adaptations move forward, those questions are likely to resurface.

For timing, watch two dates: ARC Raiders' "Frozen Trail" update on October 7, its largest content drop yet, and The Finals Season 12 on October 20. The deal announcement is clearly synced to a significant content moment, and how those updates perform will shape the narrative around the franchise's momentum.

A Starting Gun, Not a Finish Line

Nexon is not simply selling off adaptation rights; it is positioning itself as a publisher that wants a durable entertainment ecosystem around its biggest games. Whether that ambition produces a Fallout-tier hit or a cautionary tale depends on decisions that have not yet been made.

The genuine unknowns are substantial: no talent, no format split, no dates. This is the starting gun, not the race.

The broader slate is already crowded, and each new adaptation raises the stakes for the next. If ARC Raiders and The Finals land, they will accelerate the wave of game-to-screen deals already in motion. If they stumble, they will become the reference point for caution.

So, the question worth putting to the community: which of these two games works better as a feature film, and which is better suited to a serialized series? For now, that is a debate fans can have. It may be a while before Chernin answers it officially.