(Image courtesy of Liithos)
The makers of Ashfall, a sci-fi game and comic book project from creators of post-apocalyptic titles The Last of Us and Days Gone, are partnering with influencer Michael Le to build a TikTok series based on the new intellectual property.
Liithos, the company behind Ashfall, is headed by Sony PlayStation veterans Michael Mumbauer, an executive on The Last of Us, and John Garvin, who created Days Gone. Both were hit games, and an adaptation to TV of 2013’s The Last of Us has become a huge and growing hit on HBO and HBO Max since its debut earlier this month.
A cover, and digital collectible image, from the Ashfall project between Liithos and Michael Le.
Le, who has more than 52 million TikTok followers, is creating a five-part narrative series based on Ashfall that will premiere on the hugely popular China-based social-media platform later this year. The TikTok series will also feature another influencer, Slider Jesus, who has 257,000 Instagram followers.
The series will drip out one episode every Sunday, accompanied by the release of a digital collectible available through CoinZoom. The collectible will be free, but a processing fee of around $1.50 will be charged. They are designed to give fans a sneak peek into the look of upcoming comic series, whose creators include Eisner Award winner Tony Harris (Starman, Ex Machina).
“Today’s superstars are elevated by millions of real fans and followers on TikTok where we find our new heroes and villains,” said Mumbauer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Liithos. ”We are looking to collaborate, integrate, and elevate multimedia experiences with these superstars like Michael Le for the next generation. The Liithos TikTok Creators series is the first of many experiences Liithos is looking to launch to create easily traversable pathways between medias and the evolving web space.”
The multi-pronged release across a game, comic book, web series and NFT series is a relatively cutting-edge approach to what’s long been a goal of creators, owners and managers of major entertainment franchises (think games and books based on Star Wars, for instance).
What’s perhaps different is the upfront focus on releasing related projects in a narrative universe across multiple platforms, including newer ones such as digital collectible NFTs and a TikTok series, rather than seeing if the IP can catch on in one platform before expanding to others.
Liithos said the “Ashfall Universe…takes place in the climate-change ravaged Pacific Northwest where Seattle has been submerged beneath the ocean for hundreds of years. The Trace – deadly pockets of dark energy – has brought mutation, ruin, and chaos wherever they appeared. With civilization devolved into factions and enclaves and humanity fighting over resources and differing ideologies, Ash Naranjo, born without arms, is taken by the Order of Life Science, who give him TechGyn prosthetic arms and other nano implants – changing him forever. Now one of the Order’s Ghosts, Ash fights for the United Enclaves, vowing to destroy the oppressive Freelanders who have taken his family and destroyed his homeland.”
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