Tron: Catalyst developer on new game and working with Disney
Mike Bithell of Bithell Games talks about Tron: Catalyst, whose 2025 release ties in with Tron: Ares, the next film in the sci-fi saga
When the original Tron film came out on July 9, 1982, it was still three years before Mike Bithell was even born.
Now, the British video game developer and spearhead of a small independent studio is hard at work on his latest brainchild, a new adaptation of Disney’s sci-fi saga, which was unveiled earlier this week.
The original Oscar-nominated film tells the story of Kevin Flynn, a programmer who gets trapped in a virtual world created by a computer and attempts to escape.
“I’m very interested in artificial intelligence, computers, robots, aliens, so it was the right fit,” says Bithell of his excitement about making a video game version of Tron.
“I wore out the VHS tape of Tron because … as a kid I loved it,” recalls the developer. “This was a story about someone who made computer games, which as a kid I thought was the coolest thing in the world. Obviously now I know the horrible reality that it’s a very nerdy job.”
The classic motion picture rose to fame due to its distinctive retro-futurist ambience and pioneering visual special effects.
