Alien vs. Predator

Lore & Background

The Alien vs. Predator franchise depicts a series of deadly encounters between humanity and two extraterrestrial species: the Xenomorphs, ferocious endoparasitoid creatures; and the Yautjas, technologically advanced warriors that hunt for personal sport and honor, not for planetary colonization. The series acts as a spin-off to the Alien franchise, portraying humankind's encounters with alien species and how they helped shape human civilization, technology, and weaponry such as the Colonial Marines and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. However, the AVP films are not officially considered canonical prequels to the Alien franchise by 20th Century Fox. The films take place in 2004, with the second film set immediately after the first.

The first Alien vs.

Reader's Guide

The Alien vs. Predator franchise is significant as a crossover that merged two major science fiction horror properties, expanding their shared universe and influencing later entries in both series. It introduced the concept of the Predator homeworld and the Predalien hybrid, and established the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's origins through Charles Bishop Weyland, tying directly into the Alien franchise's lore. The franchise's legacy includes numerous novels, comics, and video game spin-offs such as Aliens vs. Predator (2010). The 2018 film The Predator featured several references to Alien vs. Predator, including an alternate ending that displayed a Weyland-Yutani Corp pod containing Ripley and Newt from Aliens, intended to further connect to the Alien saga. Despite a third film being delayed indefinitely, the franchise remains a notable part of both the Alien and Predator mythos, demonstrating how corporate and extraterrestrial conflicts shape human technological advancement and interstellar history.

Did You Know?

• The first Alien vs. Predator story was published in Dark Horse Presents #34–36 from November 1989 to February 1990.
• Lance Henriksen played Charles Bishop Weyland in Alien vs. Predator, tying the film to the Alien series where he played the android Bishop.
• The second film, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, ends with a Yutani Corporation executive acquiring a Predator plasma pistol, foreshadowing future technology.
• An alternate ending for the 2018 film The Predator featured a Weyland-Yutani pod containing Ripley and Newt from Aliens.

Origins: Gaming the 1980s Blockbusters

The Alien franchise's video game journey kicked off in 1982 with an Atari 2600 title adapted from the 1979 film, establishing a pattern that would define the franchise's interactive history for decades. Each subsequent major film release spawned its own game: the 1986 Aliens sequel, the 1992 Alien 3, and the 1997 Alien Resurrection all received dedicated video game adaptations. The Predator franchise followed a parallel trajectory, debuting in 1987—the same year the original Predator film premiered in theaters. Its later entries tracked the Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010) films. Together, these early titles cemented a template in which cinematic storytelling served as the creative backbone for interactive entertainment, with each game essentially translating on-screen survival horror into a playable format. By the time the 2010s rolled around, the Alien franchise had accumulated seventeen licensed video games, while Predator had produced six, each one a direct descendant of its source film's narrative and visual language.

The 1993 Crossover and a Shared Universe

In September 1993, the two previously separate franchises collided for the first time in a video game titled Alien vs. Predator. This crossover was not born in the gaming world but in the pages of an earlier comic book series, which had already established the narrative link between the two species. The 1993 game marked the opening of an official shared universe that would expand well beyond interactive media. Comic book crossovers continued to deepen the connection, and the relationship eventually reached the silver screen with the 2004 feature film Alien vs. Predator and its 2007 sequel Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The gaming side of this merger has been prolific: fourteen officially licensed video games have been produced under the Alien vs. Predator banner. This crossover transformed what had been two parallel horror franchises into a single, interconnected narrative ecosystem where the ancient rivalry between the two alien species became the central dramatic engine across every medium.

One Franchise, Every Screen and Surface

The sheer breadth of platforms and formats across these franchises is striking. Thirty-seven officially licensed video games have been developed by a rotating cast of studios and released across an equally diverse range of hardware: home consoles, handheld game consoles, personal computers, and mobile phones. This multi-platform strategy meant fans could encounter the Alien, Predator, and crossover narratives whether they were sitting at a desktop, holding a portable device, or tapping a smartphone screen. Beyond video games, the franchises extended into other interactive formats. The Aliens vs. Predator Collectible Card Game hit the market in 1997, and in 2006, Alien vs. Predator themed sets were released for the HorrorClix tabletop miniatures game. These non-video-game products represent the only entries outside the digital gaming space, giving the franchises a physical, tactile dimension that complements their electronic counterparts and broadens the audience beyond traditional gamers.

Survival as the Universal Theme

Every game in these franchises shares a common narrative DNA: a fictional universe where alien races and species engage in dangerous conflicts with humanity and with one another. The core gameplay loop across all thirty-seven titles revolves around survival, pitting human characters, Xenomorphs, and Predators against each other in various deadly encounters. The settings are predominantly placed far in the future, situating the action in an era where interstellar travel and contact with extraterrestrial life are normalized yet remain deeply threatening. This far-future backdrop allows the games to explore themes of isolation, predatory instinct, and the fragility of human survival when faced with organisms that are biologically or technologically superior. Whether a player controls a marine trying to escape a hive or a Predator tracking prey through an alien jungle, the underlying tension remains constant: in this universe, every species is either hunter or hunted, and the stakes are always life and death.