The Game Awards’ Twitter Thinks Halo Was Paramount’s No.1 Show Last Year

Cinematic adaptations of video games are one aspect of the gaming industry that will constantly be scrutinized. There has been significant improvement in film/TV treatment of popular games in the past few years. Movies like Uncharted, Sonic, and Detective Pikachu, alongside Shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Arkane, and Halo, have broken the long-term curse plaguing video game adaptations.

One of the most recent well-received entries in the video game to Hollywood pipeline is the Halo TV show. It premiered In March 2022 on Paramount+ and was a big success for the streaming service, garnering positive reviews. However, contrary to a The Game Awards Tweet, Halo wasn’t the No.1 show on Paramount+ in 2022; it was Yellowstone prequel 1923.

Major Takeaways

• Contrary to what The Game Awards said, Halo isn’t the No.1 Paramount+ show of 2022.
• 1923 starring Harrison Ford, which came out in December, was the actual winner.
• A sophomore season is in development, regardless.

This confusion started when The Game Awards posted a Tweet about the show. In the Tweet, they said Halo: The Series was the #1 show on the Paramount+ streaming service in 2022. Halo left Yellowstone and 1883 behind in the race to be the network’s No.1 series. 

But, like most TGA Tweets, no link to the source was present, only the name WSJ (Wall Street Journal). And as it turns out, the info the account Tweeted is old and inaccurate as of the present. So, Halo isn’t the No.1 show of 2022 on Paramount+; it’s actually a series that stars Harrison Ford.

HALO: The Series was the #1 show on @paramountplus last year, eclipsing Yellowstone (only available outside the US) and 1883.

Season 2 of Halo is now in production.

(Source: WSJ) pic.twitter.com/nFIVWC2JDa

— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) January 9, 2023

Stephen Totilo cleared all of this up and provided the correct info regarding this matter. The Journalist Quote Retweeted the Tweet from The Game Awards and conveyed the actual stats. According to him, 1923, starring Harrison Ford was the No.1 show on Paramount+ in 2022. 

Paramount+ itself provided this ranking to Stephen Totilo. The prequel to Yellowstone came out just last month on December 18, 2022. Hence, it is possible that the Wall Street Journal report didn’t account for this late inclusion and thus kept Halo at No.1.

This tweet's a little off…

– No link to source (TGA twitter seldom if ever links to news outlets; just game companies, retailers)

– Paramount+ tells me 1923 (Harrison Ford-starring Yellowstone series from December) surpassed Halo

– But! Halo, season 2 is indeed in production https://t.co/b2l5bfPeMZ

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) January 9, 2023

The Halo TV show did keep the top spot for almost a year, but as the new info tells us, it was overtaken. 1923 surpassed Halo after its release last month, according to Stephen Totilo. So, the beloved Microsoft IP wasn’t able to cement the No.1 position in the TV world. 

However, there was something right in the Tweet from Game Awards. Stephen Totilo corroborated that a 2nd season of Halo is in production, as the original Tweet says. Therefore, TGA did get something right about the show’s position, which is commendable.

We don’t know when the 2nd season will release, but it is a welcome addition. In no way was Halo a perfect adaptation, but reviews from the general consumer base were positive. The series has a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.1 on IMDB, both competent.

But, the problem lies in the reception from the fans of the series. Halo only has a 52% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is extremely average. This criticism from fans has been due to the derivation from the source material the show has. 

Long-term fans of the games haven’t been big fans of the rewriting of the lore. But the show has a lot of potential, and the overall positive critical reception proves that. With a big budget to help it in its 2nd season, we hope the writers will listen to the fans and deliver an amazing sophomore outing.