I haven't played the GoT RPG, or the Telltale game to speak of their quality, but I think the series has the same problem as many other adaptations, like LotR or The Matrix.

Those things are so lore dependant. People want to see those characters, going through that adventure, but that was never written to allow for a videogame adaptation.

The alternatives are:

Create story, characters and gameplay challenges fit for a videogame, then try to slot it inbetween the existing canon. Like the Game of Thrones RPG, LotR: The Third Age or Enter the Matrix, but then you run the risk of people not caring about your game because it features original characters (do not steal), instead of the ones they like or care about, with those at best being relegated to cameos.

Break canon for the sake of gameplay. The Matrix: Path of Neo did this. It ended with avatars for the Wachowskis breaking the fourth wall and telling the player the ending was going to be different from the movie, because an ending that works in that medium can translate into a lame ending for a videogame. Their solution was to have all the remaining Smith clones come together Voltron-style and make a giant Agent Smith. It was silly, but it was fun. This was hardly the first change the game made, another I remember is allowing Neo to escape the agents that come after him in his office. They were right to do that. A series of "supposed to lose" situations that get resolved in a cutscene without your input make for a bad videogame, because videogames are not movies. However, all the biggest fans of the property are often also the most canon obsessed. Any change you make that contradicts canon will be met with considerable backlash.

Finally, you can keep the characters, story and plot from the original. This means a RPG is right out because there can't be customization or different choices if you are sticking close to the canon. The alternative is to fit the existing sequences in the movie or property into a preexisting gameplay genre. What you're left with is the old licensed movie tie-in games, like LotR: Return of the King, where they take the action scenes in the movie and stretch them to half hour each.



I think Firefly could potentially be made into a game. It's something where its episodic nature and short tenure are actually an advantage. There is little canon to be beholden to, and whatever you make can just be seen as canon as an additional episode.

Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire on the other hand, there is no escaping. Either you make new characters, break canon, or make something boring.



My dream ASOIAF game would be a crossover with Dynasty Warriors. Lean in on the characters and how distinct they are. Have you play a campaign with each house and give us a different ending for each one. Make it ridiculous. Like "Tyrion doing flips with an axe defeating a 1000 mooks singlehandedly" ridiculous. Change the story. Make a running joke out of hinting that you're going to cut off Jamie's hand and never do it. It would be extremely silly, but it would make for a fun game, and instead of trying to adapt into a videogame a story that was never meant to be a game in the first place, you can just pay homage to the characters you liked from it. Of course, most purists would hate it on principle and consider the whole game an insult to the property.