The Jurassic World film franchise originally began as an early video game concept, according to game designer and original Xbox creator Seamus Blackley.
The famed developer shared the story on Twitter (below), explaining that he was asked in 2012 to create a pitch with the story, gameplay, and a trailer for a new game to coincide with a relaunch of the Jurassic Park franchise from Steven Spielberg.
Blackley had previously made a Jurassic Park game called Trespasser – an infamously bad iteration released in 1998 – but had since begun working for a game finance company, for which Steven Spielberg was a client.
In 2012 or, I left my job at CAA to work with Steven S on a game, a new Jurassic Park story, to make good the skid mark we left with Trespasser. I wrote a story and design, and made a trailer. The management at Universal changed, and the project became a film. Want to know more?
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 23, 2022
"I'd see him in meetings, and sometimes do stuff with him on games or movie stuff," Blackley said. "Steven would always say 'I don’t like you in this job. Why are you doing this job'.
"One day I get a call from some guys at Universal. 'Steven was thinking of restarting the Jurassic Park franchise, and we thought it should relaunch with a new Trespasser.'
Blackley continued: "I wrote a story about dinosaurs on Isla Sorna and the research sites escaping, and about how humans had to come to terms with the original owners of the planet. My thesis was that audiences wanted to know the dinosaurs more than to kill them."
The game was called Jurassic World (the pitch trailer for which leaked in 2013, confusing many, Blackley noted) and was about fighting the humans who wanted to kill the dinosaurs. Management changes at Universal meant the game was cancelled, however, with every storyboard, idea, artwork, and so on instead going to the movie.
The Jurassic World film was released in 2015, sparking a new Chris Pratt-led trilogy that came to a close just last month with the release of Jurassic World Dominion.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.