Game Developers Have Found A New Way to Print Money
Episodic content. It seems that the video game industry has found a new way to print money. All of a sudden the MMO is old hat. World of Warcraft with its 2 million plus subscribers is not enough. Episodic content is going to be the next "revolution" in gaming. I find it amusing to think that revolution is just another way of revolving and not so much a way of evolving. So, what does episodic content actually mean for gamers and what yard sticks do we have by which to measure this awesome new money making concept?
In essence, episodic content is a means for developers to make games shorter and deliver gaming episodes more frequently. An example of which is Half Life 2. However, with the 18 months development time of Half Life 2 Episode One and the six or seven hours of gameplay involved is it worthwhile? Obviously, Half Life 2 fans are pretty impressed with having some more corridors to run around in, but is 18 months development time worthwhile for such a short stint at the screen? As far as I am concerned the content which was included in Episode 1 should have been included in the main game. If this had happened Half Life 2 would have been worth the money you had to shell out to play it.
The other game which is promoting this new form of content delivery is Sin Episodes. Sin Episodes is another game in the same vein, however, it will be released entirely based on episodic release. Flashy graphics aren't enough to do it for me in a game, the game needs to have a compelling story line and decent gameplay, unfortunately, Sin Episodes has none of these. This is not a game which will be getting my hard earned dollars. The novelty of episodic content is not enough for this game to compel me to play it any further.
Another game which has been taken with a form of episodic content is Battlefield 2. Electronic Arts, never a company to shy away from releasing a large number of expansions which offer little value for money has been doing this with the battlefield 2 expansion packs. They have offered a small amount of content for the gamer with regular paid for content.
What does this mean then for gamers? Playing games in smaller portions. It may be that games like Oblivion, Boiling Point and Grand Theft Auto will have to compete with titles which offer less content and make developers more money. As far as I am concerned video games are not TV shows. I say this after having read that the new Alone in the Dark will offer episodic content and will model itself after the television show "Lost". While I love Lost I don't believe that TV and Games are cross compatible. They are extremely different mediums. The level of immersion in a video game is much greater than that of a TV show. It takes time to become involved with the character you play. I don't believe that this will happen when you are only provided with 6 hours of content spread over the course of 18 months or so. How will you be able to become a part of the game if you are not given the time to absorb the environment and what is going on.
Games can offer so much more than television and motion picture. The possibility to create open ended environments and worlds to explore is something which is unique to gaming and should not be lost but should be embraced. The problem is that with development time of a major title stretching out over three to four years Game Developers have to invest a great deal of money in sustaining the title while it is in development. Development time a risk for the game developers and must be maintained at their own expense with the hope of generating the income from the game's release to cover the development time and earn them a profit to invest in future game releases. This is the catch 22 of the industry. While I would like to believe that the industry is pushed by the creative talent behind the games this is not always the case. Video games and PC games are big business. The game developers have to report to share holders and unfortunately share holders don't care about pushing the medium they want a return on their investment with minimal risk. Minimal risk means generating regular and guaranteed cashflow for the business. This is the world we live in. Gone are the days when a bunch of creative people made a game in their spare time and released it to the world. The modding community has become this creative space. However, modders have to work within the limitations of the development kits which are released for the games. As the modders have found out with the release of Oblivion, Bethesda have not been as forthcoming with their development kit as they were with Morrowind. There are limitations on the mod development so that content can be somewhat stifled. I am sure the creative minds behind the mods will find a way around this, but I don't believe there is any work around for the corpratization of the Gaming Industry.
At what point in time to gamers get a say in how the games are developed? The only way that we can speak up is through our wallets (and the forums). However, I can't imagine that we will see a shift away from the MMO subscription juggernauts and the new episodic gaming.
Episodic content. It seems that the video game industry has found a new way to print money. All of a sudden the MMO is old hat. World of Warcraft with its 2 million plus subscribers is not enough. Episodic content is going to be the next "revolution" in gaming. I find it amusing to think that revolution is just another way of revolving and not so much a way of evolving. So, what does episodic content actually mean for gamers and what yard sticks do we have by which to measure this awesome new money making concept?
In essence, episodic content is a means for developers to make games shorter and deliver gaming episodes more frequently. An example of which is Half Life 2. However, with the 18 months development time of Half Life 2 Episode One and the six or seven hours of gameplay involved is it worthwhile? Obviously, Half Life 2 fans are pretty impressed with having some more corridors to run around in, but is 18 months development time worthwhile for such a short stint at the screen? As far as I am concerned the content which was included in Episode 1 should have been included in the main game. If this had happened Half Life 2 would have been worth the money you had to shell out to play it.
The other game which is promoting this new form of content delivery is Sin Episodes. Sin Episodes is another game in the same vein, however, it will be released entirely based on episodic release. Flashy graphics aren't enough to do it for me in a game, the game needs to have a compelling story line and decent gameplay, unfortunately, Sin Episodes has none of these. This is not a game which will be getting my hard earned dollars. The novelty of episodic content is not enough for this game to compel me to play it any further.
Another game which has been taken with a form of episodic content is Battlefield 2. Electronic Arts, never a company to shy away from releasing a large number of expansions which offer little value for money has been doing this with the battlefield 2 expansion packs. They have offered a small amount of content for the gamer with regular paid for content.
What does this mean then for gamers? Playing games in smaller portions. It may be that games like Oblivion, Boiling Point and Grand Theft Auto will have to compete with titles which offer less content and make developers more money. As far as I am concerned video games are not TV shows. I say this after having read that the new Alone in the Dark will offer episodic content and will model itself after the television show "Lost". While I love Lost I don't believe that TV and Games are cross compatible. They are extremely different mediums. The level of immersion in a video game is much greater than that of a TV show. It takes time to become involved with the character you play. I don't believe that this will happen when you are only provided with 6 hours of content spread over the course of 18 months or so. How will you be able to become a part of the game if you are not given the time to absorb the environment and what is going on.
Games can offer so much more than television and motion picture. The possibility to create open ended environments and worlds to explore is something which is unique to gaming and should not be lost but should be embraced. The problem is that with development time of a major title stretching out over three to four years Game Developers have to invest a great deal of money in sustaining the title while it is in development. Development time a risk for the game developers and must be maintained at their own expense with the hope of generating the income from the game's release to cover the development time and earn them a profit to invest in future game releases. This is the catch 22 of the industry. While I would like to believe that the industry is pushed by the creative talent behind the games this is not always the case. Video games and PC games are big business. The game developers have to report to share holders and unfortunately share holders don't care about pushing the medium they want a return on their investment with minimal risk. Minimal risk means generating regular and guaranteed cashflow for the business. This is the world we live in. Gone are the days when a bunch of creative people made a game in their spare time and released it to the world. The modding community has become this creative space. However, modders have to work within the limitations of the development kits which are released for the games. As the modders have found out with the release of Oblivion, Bethesda have not been as forthcoming with their development kit as they were with Morrowind. There are limitations on the mod development so that content can be somewhat stifled. I am sure the creative minds behind the mods will find a way around this, but I don't believe there is any work around for the corpratization of the Gaming Industry.
At what point in time to gamers get a say in how the games are developed? The only way that we can speak up is through our wallets (and the forums). However, I can't imagine that we will see a shift away from the MMO subscription juggernauts and the new episodic gaming.
posted by thecynicalgamer @ 12:07 pm
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