Jacksepticeye says 80% of reactions to his Bloodborne movie role were critical

Jacksepticeye knows what Bloodborne fans think of him producing their movie, and he is not pretending otherwise. In a podcast interview reported by IGN and GamesRadar+ on Sept 21, the YouTuber, whose real name is Seán McLoughlin, said roughly 80% of the responses to his involvement were critical.

What he said

Asked about the animated film, which was announced at CinemaCon in April, he didn’t dodge the skepticism.

I would say 80% of the responses were critical of it… I would be the same if someone took my beloved IP, which is my favorite, and then some YouTuber’s attached to it.— Jacksepticeye, on the 100 Questions podcast, via IGN and GamesRadar+

He added that he didn’t want to call the reaction “negative,” since a lot of people were simply puzzled. Bloodborne, he said, is “my favorite game ever,” and he wouldn’t let the movie go “in a direction that I don’t think is worthy of the Bloodborne IP.”

The ‘vibe checker’ job

McLoughlin described his role in blunt terms. He said he has “quite a bit” of sway, and that on calls “people listen to me above most anyone else,” per IGN (GamesRadar+ transcribes it as “almost anyone else”). His duties, as he put it: say whether an idea is good or bad, and greenlight who gets hired.

“In simpler terms, I’m sort of the vibe-checker.”

He also said the movie won’t simply retell the game. “I’m not trying to one-up the game, and I’m not trying to compete with it, or tell the same story,” he said. “I’m trying to honor the universe that’s there.”

What we actually know about the film

Per IGN, Sony revealed the animated, R-rated project in April. McLoughlin is one of its producers alongside PlayStation Productions and Lyrical Animation. GamesRadar+ notes the film still has no director, writer, star or animation studio announced.

Lyrical Animation’s press release (posted by Jagex) about a separate project, a RuneScape series with MoistCr1TiKaL, also lists the Bloodborne film as part of its slate, with parent company Lyrical Media co-financing alongside Sony Pictures.

Why it keeps coming up

Creators are moving from reacting to games to producing their adaptations, and fans of a famously guarded series like Bloodborne are the toughest audience for it. After the April reveal McLoughlin called the opportunity “a dream come true” and “the honor of my life,” per IGN, and GamesRadar+ says he has said he feels “all the pressure in the world.”

With no director or studio named yet, the real verdict is a long way off.