It's no secret that Trion Worlds, the creator of Rift, has been working on a new franchise that will simultaneously launch as an action MMO and a show on Syfy. Today, it appears that a press release outlining Syfy's programming slate let it slip that the project is known as Defiance.

According to sites such as Massively and MMORPG.com, the press release originally named Trion's Syfy project as Defiance. However, it seems the announcement has been edited to remove that name. It now reads, "Syfy is partnering with game developer Trion Worlds for a new entertainment franchise that will seamlessly pair a primetime series with an online video game, scheduled for 2011."

It looks like we're going to need to wait for an official reveal from Trion Worlds and Syfy to see if the Defiance name holds firm. While we wait for more details to emerge, you can check out some concept art on Trion's teaser page.