Rick and Morty co-creator to make eSports show for YouTube Red

Entertaining duo: Rick and Morty has gained an international following since its 2013 debut.

Dan Harmon, the co-creator of popular animated show Rick and Morty, has a new project in the works for YouTube Red, and it's all about the ups and downs of becoming an eSports success.

Rick and Morty, a loose, oftentimes crude alternate take on the mentor-mentee dynamic of 1980s movie Back to the Future, has accumulated an international following since its 2013 debut.

Co-creator Dan Harmon, whose production company Starburns Industries has already got involved with Oscar-nominated Charlie Kaufman film Anomalisa and the Duplass Brothers' animated comedy Animals, is now looking to serve up a half-hour scripted comedy series for YouTube's subscription tier, YouTube Red.

Working as producer, Harmon has also brought in Rick and Morty showrunners and writers in Erica Rosbe and Sarah Carbiener, while a quartet of established video gaming personalities are to co-star in the show.

Michele Morrow, a host on eSports show Estream and chat show Chaotic Awesome, is joined by YouTube channel hosts Danny Avidan and Arin Hanson (together known as the Game Grumps) and Jesse Cox.

Game Grumps and Cox have four million YouTube subscribers between them; all three have guested on eSports show Estream.

"This is a show about five players who want to get into eSports and don't know how," Cox and Morrow explained in an announcement video.

"They're up against all of the biggest [organisations] and big banner teams, and they have to figure it out."

The series has been developed over a year and a half, Morrow explained, and would revolve around a fictional game of their own devising, while its portrayal of the eSports scene would be more grounded than some other shows that had delved into the phenomenon.

Harmon's partner on Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland, has also been getting into video games, with the Oct 18 release of HTC Vive virtual reality hoot Accounting, which was made in co-operation with the studio behind very well-received 15-minute heist comedy Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist and one of the designers on award-winning satire The Stanley Parable. —  AFP Relaxnews