Microsoft Signs Exclusive Deal With ‘The Guild’
It looks like Microsoft will soon be recruiting members to “The Guild”.
According to an article today over at The Hollywood Reporter, Microsoft is expanding its online entertainment presence by signing an exclusive distribution deal for the second season of the cult favorite Internet series, “The Guild”. As a result, episodes from the new season will debut worldwide simultaneously across Microsoft’s trifecta of platforms: Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the 360, MSN, and Zune. Four weeks after each new episode airs, it will take up residence over at the show’s online base of operations, Watchtheguild.com
For those that have missed out on “The Guild”, the show is a scripted comedy chronicling the various misadventures of a group of online gamers. New episodes will premiere Tuesday on Independent Video, the Xbox 360’s new channel devoted to original content, and it will head a line-up of ad-supported and fee-based programs, including first-season episodes of “Guild”, “The Jace Hall Show”, and the machinima cult favorite, “Red vs. Blue”.
“The Guild” star, creator, writer, and producer, Felicia Day, has been in the spotlight a lot recently, after starring with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion in Joss Whedon’s runaway Internet hit, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”, also available for download from the Independent Video channel. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Day was being approached by a number of different media companies for rights to “The Guild”. Day ended up signing with Microsoft after the company agreed to allow her to retain the intellectual property rights to the show, while collecting an unspecified license fee upfront. Also, Microsoft will not collect any revenue should “The Guild” eventually move up a rung on the entertainment ladder to either television or film, though it will hold on to any gaming-related brand extensions.
Sprint has already signed on to sponsor the twelve episode second season run, testing the waters with Microsoft in hopes of drawing in a new flow of ad dollars by combining programming on the 360, the Internet, and the Zune. Sprint will latch onto “The Guild” in various ways, including short ads inserted at the beginning of each episode, branded entertainment, and onscreen use of its Sprint Instinct mobile phone.
