Dexter Coming to Videogames

Dexter, the show about a serial killer who kills serial killers, is making the move to videogames.

The project was announced today by Marc Ecko Entertainment, who will be working with Showtime Networks to develop the game and ensure its “faithfulness to the spirit” of the television show. Like the television show, the game will be based on the life of Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter expert for the Miami Dade Police Department who also happens to be a serial killer who hunts down and brutally murders other serial killers and anyone else he thinks deserves to die.

“Dexter is the extremely rare TV show with enough layers of action and tension to translate perfectly into a compelling videogame,” said Marc Ecko Entertainment Vice President Marc Fernandez. “Our game designers, writers and artists are going to give Dexter’s morally complex world the kind of interactivity that gamers will love.”

Showtime Networks Vice President Len Fogge said, “Dexter is one of the most popular shows on Showtime with a particularly strong fan base among gamers. It’s a very logical jump to create a game with the website IGN.com naming it 2007’s “Best Television Program.” We’re confident Marc Ecko Entertainment’s team has the unique talents to take Dexter to the interactive space in the right way.”

Based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter premiered on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The show was warmly received by critics and has won two technical Emmys, but has also been criticized by groups including the Parents Television Council, saying the show “compels viewers to empathize with a serial killer, to root for him to prevail, to hope he doesn’t get discovered.” The show’s third season will begin airing on Showtime on September 30.

Marc Ecko Entertainment and Showtime are currently reported to be negotiating with a “handful” of developers during the game’s pre-production phase. More details about the upcoming Dexter videogame will be released over the coming months.