The Future of Gameshows

At E3 last month Xbox announced plans to reposition Xbox Live as a friendlier, more social gaming platform. No surprise there then, Wii and Playstation have been raking in cash with social play brands like Big Brain Academy and Buzz.

However, buried between the announcements of Singstar and Rock Band knock offs was a genuine innovation in interactive TV. Xbox Live Primetime is a new ‘channel’ devoted to gameshows, and the star of the show is a massively multiplayer version of Endemol’s 1 vs. 100.

For years the idea of interactive quiz shows has been one of those holy grails of multiplatform TV development that has never really been cracked. The red button has never really been fast or reliable enough. InTime Media has potential, but getting people to download a mobile client is a massive barrier to entry. Webcams aren’t high quality enough for general viewers to accept on TV. Call TV was obviously a big con.  In fact the best example of an interactive TV quiz format I’ve seen so far is on We Dig TV – which feels more like an iDVD than anything else.

So congratulations to Endemol for recognising the power of multiplayer gaming and Xbox Live’s 12 million users. That’s a much better market penetration than a lot of cable channels. Now you really can play the gameshow – and stand a chance of winning big prizes – from the comfort of your living room.

Likewise, well done to Microsoft. The idea of a large scale interactive network, scheduled like a TV station (part of the plan for Primetime) will have TV execs, gameshow developers and format scouts the world over salivating.  Especially if there’s a chance of monetising it (hateful phrase).  As multiplayer gaming obviously suits elmination formats best, I expect there’s an international sales team dusting off The Weakest Link, 15 to 1 and Deal or No Deal as I type this.

But it’s exciting.  In TV terms, this is as big a step towards true convergance as we’ve ever had.