Red Faction spin-off, movie "justified"

There is a Red Faction: Armageddon comic book, a spin-off downloadable arcade game and even a feature length TV movie - enough to spark Red Faction fatigue - but for creator Volition it's all justified.

Publisher THQ has bet big on Red Faction: Armageddon's "transmedia" potential, investing in an upcoming Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network game called Battlegrounds, a DC Comics series and a SyFy channel direct-to-TV movie called Origins starring the T-1000 himself: Robert Patrick.

For some, it's all a bit much, but according to Volition studio manager Eric Barker, Red Faction's fanbase wants it all.

"We've got a decade and four games," he said. "It's rich enough. There's a fanbase that's asked for this.

"The story needs to be there. We've had worker revolutions and the EDF. You've had a rich storyline that goes back through this, so there's a lot to explore.

"I don't think games have to have it. It's not like where you see these enormous movie franchises just yet, but if fans are that interested in this universe, sure, give them more. See what they're interested in. Give them more of it.

"Absolutely, for something like Red Faction, it's definitely justified."

Still, Volition has been careful not to overwhelm fans with Red Faction products.

"A lot of games and new IPs will assault you with, the movie! The TV show! The beach towel! The thermos! We didn't ask for that. Red Faction, we've been around for over a decade. This is the fourth game. There are some real fans of this who have been going way back.

"We have this whole universe of possibilities we've sketched out. You've fought everything from the EDF to now aliens, to nano-zombies. We feel definitely there's a desire, with fans who've been around this long and enjoying these games, to have a TV show, an XBLA game, because we've built a big enough universe, we've got a big enough fanbase, that they're interested in seeing more of the Red Faction universe."

Downloadable spin-off Battlegrounds launches during the first week of April, as Eurogamer revealed earlier this week. The SyFy feature length movie, Origins, is due out in May. And the main game, Armageddon, is due out in the UK early June.