EA bringing 'Majestic' to the small screen

Electronic Art's online game, 'Majestic'

By Kenneth Li

(IDG) -- Electronic Arts, the country's largest game developer and publisher, announced Wednesday that it has signed a deal with the William Morris Agency to begin exploring opportunities to create a TV series based on "Majestic," a soon-to-be-released Electronic Arts online game.

The deal adds to the hype surrounding two upcoming feature films adapted from bestselling interactive game franchises, Columbia TriStar's "Final Fantasy" and Paramount's "Tomb Raider."

Hollywood has licensed video game characters for movies before, such as Universal's 1994 "Street Fighter," starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Buena Vista's 1993 "Super Mario Bros.," starring Bob Hoskins, but few have had significant impact at the box office. Hollywood and the gaming industry are certain to track closely the box office performance of the latest crop of game-to-film translations, as success for any or all of them could throw open the doors for similar projects in the pipelines of competitors. For example, THQ, the country's No. 2 game publisher, recently signed a deal with Viacom-owned Nickelodeon to pursue TV and film projects based on THQ games.

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"Majestic," which is slated to launch some time in July, is modeled loosely on director David Fincher's 1997 box office hit "The Game," a suspense thriller with X-Files undertones. Unlike any other game before it, "Majestic" is played across many platforms, including instant messaging, e-mail, voicemail, cell phones and the game's Web site. Players should expect to pay about $10 a month for "Majestic" after the first trial game is launched through EA.com's premium services.

"William Morris shares our vision to define the next generation of entertainment with experiences that tightly integrate the very best that both television and the Internet has to offer," said Neil Young, VP of production and creator of "Majestic."

Young previously has compared "Majestic" to a new form of entertainment that fits somewhere between multiplayer online game successes such as "Ultima Online" and TV serials. "Majestic" is one of the first online games to be delivered in TV-esque episodes, each of which will be played out over the course of about 15 days. Players are expected to spend between 15 and 30 minutes a day receiving clues, either by phone or online, in order to progress in the game.

In a departure from other subscription-based online gaming initiatives, however, "Majestic" will not be sold in stores.