Airing exclusively on Twitch, the award-winning, live, scripted, serialized, audience-interactive sci-fi series Artificial returns for its fourth season on September 9, 2021, featuring all new innovative ways for the audience to collaborate together and determine the outcome of the characters.
From three-time Primetime Emmy® award-winning writer/producer Bernie Su, Season 4 of Artificial will introduce factions, an interactive storytelling tool that allows the audience to choose a side and make decisions that determine the outcome of the series. The leaders of these rival factions are Kai and Ember – virtual characters (known as Vtubers) played by live actors using motion capture technology. The Vtubers are created by Obskur, an interactive multimedia software developer.
“We are thrilled to see the heart pounding drama of season 4 of Artificial exclusively on Twitch,” said Steven Flisler, head of original content at Twitch. “Artificial: Factions truly embodies what Twitch is all about – the future of entertainment. Through innovative extensions, cutting edge technology, and live audience interaction available on our service, viewers can be closely involved and have an impact on the direction of the story. We look forward to watching what Bernie, the team, and our community have in store for this upcoming season.”
“This season, we’re taking our consequential audience storytelling to yet another level by allowing the viewers to side with their favorite characters to directly oppose and compete with others,” said Bernie Su, co-creator and founder of 96 Next. “This collectively shared audience experience has never been executed in scripted television.”
Artificial: Factions will follow the competition between two rival tech CEOs, played by Stephen Chang (Captain Marvel, The Last of Us Part II) and Dante Basco (Hook, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”), and their AIs, Ember and Kai, as they race to be the first to capture a rare piece of technology. Viewers will join factions, picking the side of either Sebastian (Chang) or Zander (Basco), and help their team develop their AI in order to win the heist by voting in faction-specific polls and using Twitch channel points to upgrade their team, and sabotage their enemies.
This season will place heist strategy decisions directly into the hands of the viewer, as the audience will make decisions that will greatly impact the final episode. Additionally, every third episode will be a Worldbuilding Episode, a dynamic interactive experience with the creatives behind the show that allow the audience to make major decisions in the course of the story, including character creation and set design.
Featuring new characters, settings and inventive technology only available through Twitch, Artificial: Factions will air live every Thursday at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET beginning September 9, 2021 through November 18, 2021.
About Artificial
Artificial is produced by 96 Next, an interactive media studio focusing on narrative experiences for new platforms. 96 Next was founded by Bernie Su, an interactive mixed-media showrunner known for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved, the first two YouTube distributed series to win Primetime Emmy® awards. The series is co-created and written by Evan Mandery, the author of six books, including Q, and is a regular contributor to Politico. Executive producer Bonnie Buckner is best known for producing CNBC’s “The Profit,” USA’s “Chrisley Knows Best” and “Yo on E!”. In season four, Su is joined by Jen Enfield-Kane as co-showrunner. Writer/Producer Enfield-Kane has been working on Artificial since season one.
About Twitch
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