NBC Universal-owned Sci Fi Channel and video-game publisher Trion World Network announced an initiative to co-develop an entertainment franchise that will merge a television show with a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG).
Both the game and the program will take place in the same fictional universe, with the goal of expanding the story line and character development in both arenas, with each driving users to the other. So an event that happens in the game could affect the plot of an episode, and vice versa.
“Trion’s team has a long history of launching world-class MMOGs and will bring Sci Fi’s consumer the deeply immersive, highly detailed experience that the television screen only begins to tap into,” said Adam Stotsky, executive vice president of global branding and market development for Sci Fi, in a statement. “Extending and deepening this experience into gaming and social media in an industry-defining co-development partnership with Trion, a leader in connected games and entertainment, is the logical evolution for the Sci Fi brand.”
The network expects to launch the still-undetermined program/game sometime in 2010.
