On January 31, 2025, Force Multiplier Studios announced it has partnered with Dimitri Logothetis and Rob Hickman, the acclaimed filmmakers behind the Kickboxer film franchise, to develop the first-ever Kickboxer video game.
Currently in early development, the video game will combine the rich narrative of Kickboxer with kinetic martial arts action to deliver an intense, high-octane brawler.
Following this announcement, we interviewed the series’ filmmaker, Dimitri Logothetis, about the video game adaptation of Kickboxer.
As a film industry veteran, how familiar are you with the games industry? Do you consider yourself a gamer? Do you have a favorite game or games you enjoy?
Honestly, I have never really engaged with video games as a player, though I did work on one with Crystal Dynamics in the 90s called Solar Eclipse. It was during the brief wave of FMV games, and I directed all the live-action sequences.
However, I got my son, Tim, into gaming when he was young, and he has really taken to it. I work closely with him on the films I make, and we have been talking to different people about making a game for the past ten years now.
What inspired you to expand the Kickboxer franchise into gaming, and have any specific games influenced your vision for bringing it into the interactive space?
The gaming space has become impossible to ignore and there is maybe no more natural fit for it than Kickboxer.
The original movie was one of a few that inspired entire genres of games, from brawlers like Double Dragon to fighting games like Mortal Kombat. It’s an open secret that Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat was modeled on Jean-Claude Van Damme, and you see the influence in the game structure, settings, story, and themes across multiple genres.
Kickboxer has a lasting legacy as a martial arts film franchise. With Kickboxer: Armageddon on the way, why do you feel now is the perfect time to bring the series into gaming?
We have been looking to bring the Kickboxer Film series into gaming for a long time now. It seems like; in the last couple of years, a few different factors have come together to allow us to execute a game at a level of quality that is worthy of the brand on a budget that allows us complete control without the onerous oversight that comes with hundred million dollar projects.
It seems like with the tools available in modern game engines, for example, you are finally able to execute a world-class game at a scale closer to an independent film, which is easier for us to wrap our heads around.
You’re working with Force Multiplier Studios to adapt Kickboxer into a game. How are you ensuring that it captures the essence of the films while avoiding common pitfalls that often challenge movie-based games?
Well, for one thing, I am going to be intimately involved.
I know martial arts as a two-time black belt, and I know the Kickboxer story very well as I wrote the three films in our reboot. This isn’t a situation where we sign the license away and wait for checks to roll in.
Force Multiplier is hugely successful with billion-dollar game franchises. We are developing this the same way we develop our films and working intimately with Force Multiplier to bring the franchise to a new medium.
The other thing is that Force Multiplier really gets what we are going for. Over the years, we have met with maybe a dozen different video game teams, and with Force Multiplier, we were immediately speaking the same language. They love this franchise as much as we do, and we are going to deliver for the fans.
What has been the biggest challenge in adapting Kickboxer into a video game?
We are still in the early stages, but we are laser-focused on the feel.
The Kickboxer films are grounded in Muay Thai. It’s a unique martial art that has very unique moves. There are a few major differences between film and gaming, but maybe the most dramatic is that when you are playing a game, you can feel how you move, how much friction you have with the floor, how long it takes to recover from a punch, how fast you fall when you jump.
There are comparable dynamics that we work with in the editing process, things like ramping and doubling, for example, but we need to really drill down on how to strike the perfect balance in the game. I think if we can get the feel right, everything else will fall into place.
Kickboxer is known for its intense fight sequences. What kind of gameplay mechanics can players expect? How are you ensuring the combat feels authentic and engaging?
Again, we are early in the development process, but one hallmark of martial arts film is interacting with the environment, so we are definitely looking at ways of incorporating that in the gameplay.
We are obviously going to deliver gratuitous amounts of authentic martial arts action, but another thing that you always see in a Kickboxer film is the training sequence, so we want to figure out how to hit that beat in a way that is engaging and unexpected.
As a filmmaker, storytelling is at the heart of your work. How are you approaching the integration of cinematic storytelling within the interactive format of a video game?
Cinematic storytelling has come a long way in games. At this point, it’s more or less expected. I am going to be working on an original story for the game in tandem with Force Multiplier. If you look at their team, they have a lot of experience with game writing in particular which is one of the reasons we are working with them.
Our hope is that we can not only tell one great Kickboxer story, but build a platform to tell stories in the world of Kickboxer for years to come.
Jeremy Breslau, CEO of Force Multiplier Studios
What do you hope players will experience and take away from the Kickboxer game?
We hope people can have some fun, connect with friends, experience that power fantasy that the iconic Kickboxer martial arts media can deliver, and maybe get inspired to bring some of that energy into their own lives. Get that extra push so that they can take on whatever their own ‘big bad‘ might be.
For the latest information about the Kickboxer video game, follow Force Multiplier Studio’s official site.
