Microsoft and Amazon turn "Wolfenstein" into a Prime series

Following the success of 'Fallout', Amazon and Microsoft are working on another series adaptation: the shooter series 'Wolfenstein' is to become a prime video series, reports the industry magazine Variety.

The Variety report names the production companies and people involved –, including Patrick Somerville, who is to act as showrunner. However, the report does not provide any real details on the time frame or content. Amazon has not yet officially announced the series.

The "Wolfenstein" series is one of the most renowned shooter series in the video game world. The first offshoots were developed by id Software in the 1980s, with Microsoft studio MachineGames most recently working on 'Wolfenstein' games. A new installment has not yet been announced. MachineGames last worked on "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle".

"Wolfenstein" and the Nazi symbolism

"Wolfenstein" is set in an alternate universe in which Nazis are tampering with occult rituals and science fiction technology. According to Variety, the tagline for the planned series is "the story of killing Nazis is evergreen" – Killing Nazis never gets old. In Germany, many games in the "Wolfenstein" series ended up on the index. This was partly due to the depiction of Nazi symbolism such as the swastika.

Even some of the more recent "Wolfenstein" games were modified for the German market, for example to replace swastikas with fictitious symbols. Since 2018, the USK has been allowed to make case-by-case decisions when assessing swastikas in video games thanks to the social adequacy clause in Section 86a (3) of the German Criminal Code. Since then, the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body has been allowed to permit swastikas in titles if they serve art or science, the depiction of current events or history. Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which was released in 2019, was one of the first and most prominent games to be allowed to display swastikas in Germany.

(dahe)