The Games That Made Us celebrates its fifth anniversary, Brian Falk-Weiss looks back on its success

It’s been five years since Netflix came out The games that made us Launched. The series, which has become a media staple for game collectors and fans of nostalgic content, focuses on… well, just the way it sounds. It looks at the games and brands that shaped the creators of the series (and Generation X more broadly). Created by Brian Volk-Weiss, the series premiered on December 22, 2017, with more coming soon. The idea of ​​a docu-series focusing on the recent past doesn’t sound like an easy sell to a mass audience, but in the past five years, The games that made us became a phenomenon.

And in a conversation with ComicBook.com, Volk-Weiss admitted he found it surreal. The love of the series is that it shared a story so incredibly with us that he even joked that he didn’t know if anyone would believe it.

“I’ll tell you something that happened a couple of months ago,” said Volk-Weiss. “I was at LAX with a celebrity—a very big celebrity. He has at least 25 million followers on Instagram alone. We’re sitting there talking at LAX and this guy comes up to us and says, ‘Hey, sorry for the interruption.’ The celebrity was like, ‘Oh.'” No, fans like you paid for my house.” The man looked at him and replied very politely, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I was talking to Brian.” I’ll be honest with you, I’m like, “Should I tell my wife this?” On the one hand, she’ll probably believe me because I’m her husband.

The irony is that the series is a staple of Netflix’s unscripted content now – and it was one of the first – but it took a long time to get that green light. Volk-Weiss created a sales tape that was primarily shot at his local store, and showed it everywhere before Netflix finally decided he wanted it.

“I had been trying to sell the show for seven years before Netflix bought it,” Volk-Weiss said. “It was the luckiest thing. We were either the first or the second Netflix original not to go down in history. We were part of the green light group.”

Now, instead of just paying the bills by selling toys, Volk-Weiss successfully makes toys that are related The games that made us. He says anyone who thinks this was a big master plan gives him plenty of credit, joking, “I love games. I don’t think it’s a secret.”

So, how was it put together?

“Everything was organic. It wasn’t like that.” The games that made us I go out, and then I sit there three months later, and now we can make games. This was not the case, explained Volk-Weiss. “What happened was, someone else saw it The games that made us. This guy called me, his name is Michael Goodman. That guy called me up and was like, “Hey, your brand is so good. I bet we could work together, and you and I separately would get better jobs if we worked together, because I can achieve so much more with your brand. This usually bites me in the ass, but This is one of the few times I’ve succeeded. I took a risk, and he was absolutely right. Because The games that made us He was very popular and everyone knew Nacelle had made it into the gaming community, he was able to go to the man who owns Robo power And they say, “Hey, I’m working with Nacelle, they want to buy your copyright.” Those conversations would not have been possible without her The games that made usI wouldn’t have met Michael Goodman without him The games that made us. What I think I’m making clear is that there was no master plan; We just went with it and if we saw an opportunity, we took a ride, and it was all very lucky.”

Here’s the official synopsis for The games that made us:

For some people, favorite memories from their childhood are playing with toys, some of which have become iconic over the years as multiple generations of people play these revered games. This series takes a look at some of America’s greatest gaming franchises, including the people and companies that made them, and tells the stories of the rise – and sometimes downfall – of billion-dollar creations. Some of the featured toys are original creations, like Barbie, while others are based on pop culture franchises, including star Wars Line.

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