Whether it’s Peak TV-style The Last of Us or an animated blockbuster Mario movie, video game adaptations are having their moment in the spotlight. And it’s not stopping anytime soon, with Fallout getting a Prime Video series adaptation from the creators of Westworld and even more projects on the horizon. But of all the live-action video game adaptations, there’s one you probably missed, and now you don’t even need a subscription to catch up on it before it comes back for a second season.
If you’re not a Star Trek or Survivor superfan, you might not spend a lot of time on Paramount+. One of the streamer’s big flagship original series was Halo, a live-action adaptation of the massively popular video game, but it didn’t have the same cultural impact as similar shows. Now, that could finally change.
Ahead of Season 2 of Halo, which premieres February 8, 2024, the streamer has made the entire first season free to watch on YouTube (as well as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Freevee).
It’s a risky move, but it could be the ultimate proof that the middling success of the Halo series was simply due to it not being as accessible and publicized as its competitors. Maybe Halo fans are willing to watch the series, they were just hesitant to pay for it. This would allow viewers to “try before they buy” Season 2.
Similar strategies have worked elsewhere. In October, AMC+ made a deal with Max to bring Interview with the Vampire and other thematically spooky series to the streamer, prompting a massive second wind of viewers checking out the first season of the show without having to subscribe to another streaming service.
This could become a trend in the future: shows making their first season available as a “free trial” to hype up the future of the show and secure subscribers. In an era where binge-watching is the norm, it was only a matter of time before streamers realized the power of a free sample to get viewers hooked.
