Roland Emmerich may be the cinematic master of disaster both in the literal (His movies destroy the earth a lot.) and metaphorical (His recent films have been box office disasters.) sense, but the man knows how to do big — and he’s bringing that skill to a new multi-platform franchise he’s created called Space Nation. See, it’s not enough to just make movies or games anymore — you have to make something that creates an entire universe, and Roland Emmerich, along with a few video game creators, is going to do just that with Space Nation.
Space Nation, which is about as generic a name as the U.S. Space Force, will encompass a video game MMO, television show, and animated shorts as it attempts to create a massive science fiction world that fans will hopefully spend money on. Emmerich, who is credited as the Chief Creative Officer for the project, is joined by game developers Jerome Wu (World of Warcraft), Tony Tang (Warframe), and Marco Weber, who produced Emmerich’s 1999 sci-fi film The Thirteenth Floor, in creating this new franchise they hope will be “a tremendous opportunity to captivate audiences wherever they consume entertainment with innovative new forms of storytelling.”
Just how new this form of storytelling will be isn’t quite so clear given the fact that the gaming / TV / movie hybrid universe has had plenty of folks take a stab at it, though very few succeed. Space Nation looks to do so with a story set in another universe where three warring factions are vying for control and imposing their own distinct ideologies and views. The space opera will take place in an area called the Telikos Cluster that is packed with mysteries for players / viewers to unpack.
Everything will kick off with an MMORPG being developed by the Space Nation developers. In the game, which plans to launch its alpha in August of this year with a full release in Q2 2024, players will take on the role of ship captains and explore the Telikos Cluster. Obviously, spacefaring MMORPGs where you control a ship aren’t exactly unique, so it’s unclear what Space Nation will bring to the table to stand apart. Someone out there believes it will bring something, though, as the new franchise has raised $50 million in funding already and is going into another round soon. The game will then be followed by the TV show and animated shorts.
