A new Space Jam game is coming from a very familiar face

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Part of the Space Jam film releasing in 2021.

Space Jam film trailer
(Image credit: WArner Bros.)

Drew Scanlon, producer at Digital Eclipse, a studio specialising in the preservation of classic videogames, announced he's working on a new Space Jam title licensed for the upcoming film Space Jam: A New Legacy, which is also a thing that exists somehow. The game will be released as a perk for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members, meaning it's only available to subscribers to that version of the pass.

If you're going "I have no idea who Drew Scanlon is", hold it—I bet you that you actually do know. Scanlon is the "blinking white guy", a reaction gif so widely used he even named his own website after it. I know you're dying to know more about that new Space Jam game though, who wouldn't—it's in the early stages, and right now "fans aged 14 and up" can submit video game ideas, which will be used in the official end product. Read more on that on the contest website.

I never quite know how to feel about labour designed as contests but, in the spirit of education, there's actually quite a neat initiative attached to all of this: Microsoft Stores are hosting virtual, Space Jam-themed coding workshops on the MakeCode arcade platform for younger audiences, and Microsoft Learn Lessons for older and more experienced coders using Visual Studio Code, so no matter your level, you will walk away from either of these having made a small Space Jam-themed prototype.

The first Space Jam, and yes, that is a thing I just wrote, had its own 3-on-3 arcade basketball game, and to be honest it was not good. That was at a time when you didn't really expect licensed games other than Disney platformers to be good, so who knows, maybe this new Space Jam will be one for the ages—it'll at least last us until the next (shudder) Space Jam, when LeBron James is replaced with whatever basketballer people recognise in 25 years time.