Apple’s New TV Show ‘Mythic Quest’ Dares to Get Gaming Culture Right
The comedy series’ most surprising feature is that it’s not a caricature of the $152 billion video game market
Debuting your brand new streaming TV show directly to the audience you are ostensibly making fun of could go very, very badly. In the case of the ornately named Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, a new Apple TV+ comedy, that audience is hardcore video-game enthusiasts. These are the kinds of people who would spend more than $100 each for a weekend of Super Smash Bros. tournaments, or see Dungeons & Dragons games performed on a giant stage — a crowd accustomed to seeing their on-screen selves cast as outlandish caricatures or the butt of jokes.
At PAX South, an annual games convention that draws many tens of thousands to downtown San Antonio, Texas, Apple decided to screen its new series from Rob McElhenney, one of the brains and stars behind It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, weeks before the February 7 premiere. The show is about a game development company, led by intense creative director Ian Grimm (McElhenney), that is on the verge of releasing a huge expansion to its popular online multiplayer game Mythic Quest. (Think World of Warcraft but much more violent.)
