MMO’s: The New Future of Film Promotion
Well, well. Video games are certainly seeping into the film and television industry. First, there was the X-rated game promoting Running Naked Scared. And now, James Cameron and friends are planning to release an MMO game to promote their upcoming feature film. They’ve recently joined the board of advisers over at Multiverse, which is a startup responsible for developing cheap MMOs.
Bill Tupin, the CEO of Multiverse, says he’s currently in discussion with a TV Network “to introduce an MMO game that would allow viewers to remain engaged with the show’s characters even between seasons.”
The genre is dominated by Sony Online Entertainment, NCSoft and Blizzard and is not for fainthearted businesses. Turpin cited industry guidelines that the games cost $20 million-$55 million to create and can take three or four years to launch. And many of them fail. But success can be staggering: Turpin said Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft,” for example, has 5.5 million global subscribers paying about $16 a month, which calculates to about $50 million in monthly revenue that will bring in about $1 billion in a year.
Multiverse offers the alternative of enabling any IP owner to create an MMO game for as little as $10,000 and in about half of the time to market. It does so by using common technology with open standards that are expandable. Developers also may host their own games and use Multiverse’s tools to handle subscriptions and billing.
Hmm… a TV show MMORPG? That would be the end of my social life as I know it. Well, I suppose it would depend on the TV show. A Desperate Housewives MMO? A Grey’s Anatomy MMO?
I’m there.
But it’s probably for The O.C.
[via Yahoo News]
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5 opinions for MMO’s: The New Future of Film Promotion
Andrew Garrett
Feb 26, 2006 at 9:44 am
I’m curious about:
“about $50 million in monthly revenue that will bring in about $1 billion in a year.”
There are 20 months in a year?
Interesting concept tho’ - I can imagine a lot of fans of shows like Firefly or Darkangel potentially getting into MMO type gaming that aren’t interested getting into the likes of WoW.
MMOs of shows like Firefly where there’s already a broad universe background would encourage fans to explore and grow the universe further.
Ultimately, how popular such games are comes down to how well they engage their audience, and in the case of games spun off from movies or shows, how deeply people get to feel part of the something they loved.
Cal
Feb 26, 2006 at 9:06 pm
“A Desperate Housewives MMO? A Grey’s Anatomy MMO?”
Out of all the shows on TV you pull those 2 out! Freaky, as adding in House, would make that basically the 3 shows I watch regularly.
My vote would go for Farscape…
Ingrid
Feb 26, 2006 at 10:04 pm
I love Farscape, though I haven’t watched it in a while. Great show. It might even make a better game than Desperate Housewives ;)
Tor
Feb 28, 2006 at 6:49 pm
(Lost)”Oh no! Jack died, what are we going to do!?” short silence before Jack respawns. “Don’t worry, I was just spirit ressing, need to lay down for ten minutes and rest” Hihi, a show where nobody can die ^^
Michael Welch
Dec 8, 2006 at 4:23 am
They’re working on Firefly.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72263-0.html?tw=wn_index_1
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