How is an MMO like a TV show?

Late last month Stargate Worlds' developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment announced that they would be creating their own publishing subsidiary. Called Firesky, the publisher shares many of the same executives as Cheyenne Mountain, including Senior VPs of product development Rod Nakamoto and strategic operations Joe Ybarra. Today, as MMO week continues at GamesIndustry.biz, that site has a discussion with the pair on what kind of experiences they hope to offer future players.

From the developer's perspective, there are a number of advantages to making an MMO about a television show. Given the episodic nature of TV, releasing serial content within the context of the SGW gameworld becomes second nature. Ybarra and Nakamoto also comment on some of their future plans, hinting at a "Project Anderson" that seeks to combine the best aspects of a social network and an MMO. "We also intend to deliver products that are very different from MMOs but still have an online component, that still widens our audience and brings in different types of gamers besides just the MMO players."