Defiance TV series premieres April 15 with two-hour episode

Television network Syfy announced Defiance, an original TV series that shares its universe with the online game of the same name, premieres April 15 at 9 p.m. ET with a two-hour episode.

This television-meets-game world concept — detailed by Polygon last year — is part of a partnership between Syfy and game studio Trion Worlds. While the two formats share the same world, the focus of the television series will differ from the game. Defiance the television series is set 35 years in the future on a newly terraformed Earth and follows the story of an alien-infested St. Louis. The video game, however, will follow the story of a gold rush following the terraforming of earth, and the inevitable conflict between aliens and humans throughout the San Franscisco Bay area.

The online open-world shooter is scheduled to launch April 2013 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Defiance receives its first beta event on Jan. 18.