The Syfy network and game developer Trion Worlds have debuted Defiance, a story that unfolds simultaneously on a TV show and in an online gaming world. For the first time, gamers have a chance to impact a show by playing an MMORPG. Defiance takes place on Earth 33 years in the future, after an alien war.
The show characters live in St Louis while the in-game characters live in San Francisco. In the first season, there are choreographed interactions between the show and the videogame, e.g., show characters might dictate gamers’ missions: a doctor in St Louis might ask a team in San Francisco to find a medical device. In future seasons, gamers’ decisions would influence the show, creating a new cross-media storyline.
Instead, Syfy is the one trying to tap a new money vein. Multiplayer online games can be lucrative, with gamers not only paying to play but buying virtual goods within the game. “Rift,” the first title Trion made, generated revenue of $100 million within its first 10 months. But these sprawling online games, in which an unlimited number of people can play in one world at once, demand a lot of time from players. Most only commit to a few titles at a time. It’s tough for new entries to hit critical mass.
The companies at first agreed to split a budget of $25 million for a game designed for personal computers. But the development schedule ballooned and the game budget nearly tripled as advancing technology made it possible to create versions for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.
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