14 DAY TRIAL // Trion World Network, a firm specialized in creating online worlds, announced that Kevin Beardslee would be the senior development director on a massive multiplayer game which would tie in with a show created by the Sci Fi Channel. The main writer for the show is said to be Peter Egan, best known for his work on The Dresden Falls. At the moment, there's no clear schedule regarding a launch date for the MMO or a release date for the television show.
Kevin Beardslee was the lead animator on World of Warcraft, the most successful MMO in the world, and after having left Blizzard, he founded Carbine Studios, which became the North American division of NCsoft. There, he was involved in the creation of a MMO project neither named nor released.
Sci Fi and Trion say that they want to create an “immersive cross-media entertainment experience”. This basically means that the viewers of the television show produced by Sci Fi will be involved in the MMO and will have a chance to significantly influence the way the program progresses.
Lars Buttler, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Trion World Networks, stated that “We are making terrific progress with the joint Trion – Sci Fi project and are proud to announce the addition of these two new key hires. Kevin and Peter both represent the pinnacle of their respective fields in game design and television writing, and their vast experience and creativity are powerful additions to our already talented project teams”.
The potential problem with such a joint effort, which involves both a TV show and a MMO, is that the viewers must be attracted to the videogame and the players interested in the show; otherwise, the two elements will target different audiences and will never work together.