Sci Fi Plotline to Play on TV and Video Game

In a new variation on media migration, Sci Fi plans to debut a dramatic series and simultaneously release a video game companion to engage viewers as role players in the unfolding drama.

Sci Fi is working with Trion World Network to develop an online multi-player game it can brand to play off a TV drama slated for a summer 2010 premiere.

The drama, to be set in the late 21st century, is being conceived as a multi-season, on-air series with an evolving online game to let viewers play the characters, according to Adam Stotsky, Sci Fi executive vice president of global brand strategy and market development.

“What we’re going to do is look to use each medium to its fullest,” Stotsky said. “TV is best at telling a linear, dramatic story. What games do really well is allow you, the viewer, to immerse yourself in it and become part of the story.”

Stotsky projects a lifespan of 10 to 15 years for the game, which will offer variations on the plot of what will likely be a near-Apocalyptic or post-Apocalyptic drama. Sci Fit and Trion are working together to develop the plot for the drama and video game, he said.

“The idea here is to develop one piece of intellectual property that manifest itself across two media,” Stotsky added.

Sci Fi hopes to spark appeal among a psychographic that wants to engage in narrative on passive and interactive levels. If its core twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings buy in, Sci Fi could have a novel development formula and brand strategy on its hands.

If the tactic works, Sci Fi has a ready partner in Trion World Network. The Peacock Equity Fund, jointly owned by Sci Fi parent NBCU and GE Finance, took an equity stake in Trion last year.