Film and TV tie-in MMOs on the way

by Jennie Lees { Feb 24th 2006 at 2:00PM }

MMO platform startup Multiverse recently announced that movie-makers James Cameron and Jon Landau have joined its board of directors, and this has some interesting implications for the future of MMOs and other entertainment media. While movie tie-in games are ten a penny, and franchised MMOs lurk around every corner, Cameron has a more ambitious project up his sleeve.

The plan? Before releasing an upcoming sci-fi flick, Cameron intends to create a tie-in MMO that will get players hooked on the film's setting--think advergame, franchise and viral promotion rolled into one. Similarly, Multiverse is in talks with a TV network to create a related MMO that will help viewers get closer to their favourite characters.

The numbers look appealing; Multiverse's low-cost approach means that franchises and developers who have been shying away from the MMO bandwagon can jump without sacrificing millions of dollars on an experiment. However, this could have its downsides--we may end up seeing an endless parade of cookie-cutter MMOs that equate IP with instant revenue without much thought for gameplay or originality.

Hopefully this won't happen; it's up to Multiverse, and Cameron's novel tie-in, to set the scene for the future. Their MMOs will be competing with standalone franchised products, and it will be a battle for player revenue well worth witnessing. However, the big question is: when will Uwe Boll get wind of this?

Tags: cameron, franchise, mmo, multiverse, nyt, reuters

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Panadero @ Feb 24th 2006 2:21PM

This kind of reminds me of the tie-ins with the Hack universe, between the various anime series and the games. Even though the Hack games weren't MMOs themselves, they were part of a calculated and connected series of releases.

guano @ Feb 24th 2006 4:39PM

I think he's got it backwards. He should establish the story first with the movie, then make an MMO in that world. I would be more inclined to play an MMO whose world I am already fimiliar with than to jump into one in order to be more familiar with a new movie.