One of the Biggest Crime Shows in History Is Getting a Video Game

Tie-in games to film and television used to be a far more common practice in video games, but modern gaming has seen established IP more likely to release tie-ins to games like Fortnite rather than develop their own titles. One of the biggest long-running franchises in gaming history seems set to take a page from the past, though.

Released specifically through Peacock, an adaptation of the Law & Order game series is coming to mobile platforms. The game seems to be a mystery title where players investigate crime scenes, hoping to recreate the feeling of discovery that comes with any mystery story. However, some aspects of the game’s development might end up thrusting this title into a bigger discussion currently going on in the larger gaming industry.

Law & Order Is Getting A New Video Game

Law & Order: Clue Hunter is one of the games being added to NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock, serving as a mobile game expansion of the long-running show. The game will task players with investigating crime scenes and looking for clues related to a criminal investigation. Other games coming to the app include mobile versions of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, highlighting how NBCUniversal sees the app as a potential place to push gaming/television integration. They’re far from the only company doing this, with Netflix also introducing plenty of games into its streaming service. This also isn’t the first time that the series has been adapted into a video game. Law & Order: Dead on the Money debuted in 2002, developed by Legacy Interactive for Windows before later being ported to Mac OS.

The point-and-click adventure game outperformed expectations, leading to a couple of follow-ups. Even Telltale Games got briefly involved with the franchise, adapting it for the seven-part episodic adventure Law & Order: Legacies — however, that game was pulled from digital stores when Telltale decided against renewing the rights for the show. In theory, a mobile game based on the investigative aspect of the show seems more in line with player sensibilities than the previous narrative-driven adventure games, which were light on gameplay in lieu of attempting to recreate the feel of the show. Actually playing as a detective in the world of Law & Order, albeit in a simplified format for the mobile space, makes sense from a game design perspective. However, Law & Order: Clue Hunter is stepping into its own potentially controversial space.

Law & Order’s New Game Uses Generative AI

Law & Order: Clue Hunter — alongside the original mystery game Public Eye — both come from Wolf Games, the gaming studio led by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf’s son, Elliot. As such, the development of a Law & Order game seems to be directly tied to the studio behind the show. When the studio announced its collaboration last year with NBC, it was revealed that Wolf Games would be using a proprietary, generative AI-based game engine for development. AI has become a hot-button issue across multiple industries, but especially in the world of gaming. While major companies have sought to use the new technology to produce games at an enhanced rate and for lower budgets, the practice has been decried by developers and gamers at large as an approach that undercuts the individual efforts of creatives around the industry.

Many major publishers like EA have been backing away from the practice, taking note that a majority of gamers aren’t interested in the approach. The fact that a major corporation like NBCUniversal is committing to the process isn’t going to do them any favors with the larger gaming community, but Clue Hunter seems to be less focused on appealing to the gamer market and more towards appealing to casual gamers who are using the Peacock app. This could allow them to largely avoid the blowback other developers have gotten for using generative AI in their production cycles. It’ll be interesting to see how the game launches and how it evolves, especially as the AI issue becomes more pronounced in gaming culture.