It doesn’t have to be a 1:1 copy but it has to be better - otherwise what’s the point?
No it doesn't; it just has to succeed in it's mission of effectively telling the same (or close enough) story and get it's point across. This is clearly a tale that Druckman and friends want to tell and for people to experience, but even though it's 2023 not everyone is necessarily interested in playing a video game, so they're telling it in another more accessible one. They're obviously succeeding too, based simply on word of mouth, praise for the show, and the fact that viewership is growing episode to episode. I teach at an elementary school and it's honestly ridiculous and pretty cool how many middle aged soccer moms are watching this show who never heard of the game, would have never played it, but are just as engaged with the story and Joel/Ellie as "gamers" were a decade ago.
Adaptations not being as good as the source material isn't exactly a new concept; there's a reason why "the book was better" is such a common phrase and yet decades or centuries old novels, plays, and tales continue to be adapted for modern audiences; for many those stories are still engaging and interesting, many adaptations are good enough, and at the end of the day audiences aren't going to be aware of cut content, plot changes, or changes between characters (look at the changes between Ron and Hermione in the HP movies when compared to the book; hell - where's my man Peeves?) because obviously they haven't experienced that original source material. Again, that original source material might be in a medium that people just have no interest in engaging in - being able to tell their stories in
some capacity is better than those stories not being heard at all.
All Quiet On the Western Front was just remade; how many people do you think checked it out who had previously read the book (or the 1930s movie that was adapted from it)? How many people who saw 2021's A West Side Story saw the original play? How many people watched A Star Is Born in 2018 while being familiar with the original 1937 movie? How many people who played God of War do you think have actually read Greek/Norse mythology? How many kids watched Frozen without reading The Snow Queen?
Maybe an adaptation will lead someone to check out the source material (why do you think so many books have "Now a Movie!" pasted on there covers?) - maybe someone watching this show will decide to check out the game for the first time and come to their own conclusion on what version of Bill they prefer, what version of Ellie they prefer, and whether or not less action is really that detrimental to the overall story being told. Or, maybe they won't, they'll stick with the show, and that's ultimately fine too.
Thankfully, an adaptation doesn't cease the source material or previous adaptations from existing; so if you prefer version A of the story over version B, that's fine - it's still there for you!
