Next Episode
by Samuel
The rise of wholly-downloadable titles as an increasingly mainstream commercial outlet, (larger budgets, space limitations and greater availability on consoles dramatically expanding what was formerly the sole domain of small fan-made PC games) has fundamentally changed the way that publishers offer certain games for sale. I am talking here of episodic content.
In the past, you would buy your game and that would be it. You’d have the full and finished thing in your hand on the day of release, sure in the knowledge that if you didn’t complete the thing, that was your own doing. Unless you got hit by a bus, of course, but in such a situation, not finishing your game is a relatively minor annoyance.
Gradually this has stopped being the case, starting slowly with expansion packs, before picking up speed with downloadable content seeing publishers churning out any number of minor and major game additions or even locking off content already on the retail disk (which is a rant for another day) until you purchase an unlock key online. From there we started to lose the retail disk and manual and other solid aspects of the game when entire titles started to be sold over services like Steam, Impulse, and Games on Demand. And now at last we’re seeing an advanced form of rip-off that has evolved from the combination of games distribution and high-speed internet.
Episodic games made him cry fire...
When did it become acceptable for developers and publishers to sell us an unfinished product? Okay, you could make the argument that unfinished games have been hitting retail for some time, with patches trickling out that fixed them and slowly made them half-way functional because their release was rushed to meet unreasonable deadlines. That’s been happening for years on the PC, and now on the current generation of consoles due to the Xbox and PS3 allowing for patches to be downloaded and applied relatively painlessly as a matter of course. This has resulted in developers doing a sloppier job of testing and polishing their products before release. And again, that some gamers do not have internet access for their consoles still is a rant for another time. But even this isn’t nearly as frustrating as being sold a game that has half or more of the content entirely missing, not broken, but not there at all except for an IOU and a short preview that promises to sell you the next chunk sometime in the future.
In theory, episodic games are a logical progression of the downloadable content model, letting you play as far as you’re willing to pay for, in smaller increments than buying a full priced game outright. The argument does fall a little flat when you consider that these episodic games have a demo mode on XBLA and PSN, so you can find out whether or not you want to pay the full price without paying anything at all.
I was hugely excited by the Penny Arcade Adventures game. I’m a big fan of the webcomic. Jerry Holkins is a very funny, very erudite and well-spoken commentator on the industry. And his partner in crime Mike Krahulik is an incredible artist. Between them, their work has a kind of humour that alternates between the extremely vulgar and the extremely high concept, visiting most points in-between, and somehow managing to make some very good points along the way. That appeals to me, strongly, so the idea that they intended to make their own game loosely based on the characters from the webcomic was positively saliva inducing.
The more details that came out about it, the more I salivated. It was a combination of a traditional RPG and a point and click adventure. It had a story and setting inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft. It was full of steampunk imagery and style. It let you recreate yourself as the main character, so it was really you dicking about with Tycho and Gabe. And it was being made with Hothead Games, an independent dev team that had somehow managed to snag Ron Gilbert, the creator of Monkey Island, as a creative director.
The only news that landed with a thud was that it would be an episodic title. At the time, this was a disappointment simply because the first episode turned out to be quite short in duration. You could finish it in a few hours. And then you had to wait again. The second episode repeated this; when it came I devoured its succulent offering in very short order and was again left restlessly demanding the rest of the game, my hunger barely satiated.
I waited a very, very long time after that second episode.
Eventually it started to reach a point where it was getting ridiculous. Episode three was nowhere in sight over a year after the second episode had been released. I was by now actively hunting online for some kind of announcement or news, but there was none. It had dried up, the game was postponed, nobody knew what was going on with it, and neither Penny Arcade nor Hothead were responding to the increasingly frustrated and vocal questions about what the hell was going on.
A few weeks ago, we finally found out, those of us who had supported the project from the start, had bought the two episodes as soon as they came out despite the pricing structure, and who had kept vigil in the absence of that third episode. And the word was there would be no third episode, nor the fourth that was also previously promised. Excuses were made. Hothead and Ron Gilbert had better things to be doing with their valuable time (namely Deathspank, a game which has mostly passed me by, and which I am entirely apathetic about). Not enough people had bought the first two episodes, accusing them of being overpriced. Blah blah bloody blah.
The thing is; I would have continued to wait. I paid the (at the time) exorbitant price of both released episodes because I wanted that game, and there was no doubt in my mind that there would be four episodes and a full story and a complete game at the end of it. Hell, maybe, if those four did well, there would be even more! I trusted that. Fine, let Hothead piss about with Deathspank. I don’t mind. Just so long as they came back and finished Penny Arcade Adventures when they were done with it!
Being told that I had wasted my time, my money, and my unwavering support, because they couldn’t be bothered to finish the game properly, felt like a massive betrayal. It still does. I am massively angry at them, inversely proportionately to how much I loved what little I had been allowed to play. And it’s had other ramifications, not just for my appreciation of one of my favourite webcomics and any future output from the developer involved, but in how I will now approach other episodic games.
In short, don’t try and sell an episodic game to me ever again, until all the episodes are finished and released. I don’t care how much I want the game. I don’t care if it means that later episodes are guaranteed to be cancelled because those first few aren’t selling much. Maybe it’ll result in some potentially great games fizzling out. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll force developers and publishers to see just how unfair it is to those who did support them when they let them down. Until I know with absolute certainty that the whole game is there for me to play, I’m not interested.
The news that Hydrophobia was to make the switch to being episodic was a surprise, to say the least
I’ve been watching Hydrophobia with interest for a long time now. It was changed to an episodic XBLA game during the time I was starting to wonder where the third Penny Arcade episode was. Unlucky for them. Until I get all the episodes, not going to buy any of them. And I’ve held off on the new Telltale Games reboots of Sam & Max and Monkey Island too, until each season has completed and been re-packaged as a complete game, so I’ve only bought and played the first two seasons of Sam & Max.
Essentially, this entire article is a rant about how I got screwed over by a game I desperately wanted to finish, but was denied the chance to do so. To some people that may seem rather petty. But once bitten, twice shy, and in the long run I can see me not being in the minority of gamers to be betrayed in this way.
Last five articles by Samuel
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- Sony Conference - GamesCom 2011
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- City to City - Travelling to Cologne via London with Gerry Rafferty
I feel for you man I really do, it’s arse that something like that happened and I’d of thought penny arcade would of had the following to keep something like that afloat but like you said it could of been the price that killed it. That said I’m gonna have to disagree with you on the whole episodic thing, I’m all for it the trouble is that it’s in it’s infancy and letting the little guys make all the mistakes isn’t fair on them, gamers or the industry. The big boys like EA should be stepping up to the plate they are the ones with the money and the resources to. The way I understood the downfall of the penny arcade episode was that the two guys from penny arcade knew that the game wasn’t shifting (even though it was loved) and although they had a deal with the devs for x amount of episodes those devs had the opportunity to make something that they knew would sell and the penny arcade guys performed a selfless act and let them go do what they needed to do. The penny arcade guys do love games I don’t believe for one second it’s about the money with them but think about how pissed you’d of been if they knocked out all the episodes and they wasn’t up to scratch
I’ve not been keen on the thought of episodic content either; I downloaded the first chapter of Hydrophobia (trial version)but not yet tried it yet. My thoughts were also of I might just wait until all episodes are released so I can play the full game. The problem here is that if everyone does the same thing and the earlier episodes aren’t selling successfully then we may never get the full game. I never knew much about Penny Arcade and the first XBLA game was my first introduction to Gabe and Tycho; the game certainly had some humour but I never got around to completing it or picking up the second episode.
Thanks for the comments guys. I wrote this one a while back just after PA Adventures was cancelled and before Hydrophobia was released. True to my word, I’ve avoided playing Hydrophobia, and I’m also holding off on the now episodic Sonic 4 beyond a cursory glance.
Lee makes a good point though, and it’s something I didn’t consider at the time, in the heat of my personal rage at being screwed over. If the bigger publishers like EA, Activision and Ubisoft took the lead on episodic gaming and ensured that projects were seen through by virtue of their massive resources, then it might not be so bad. Fine, if a game flopped we’d not see a sequel, but at least they’d be in a position to keep going and release the remaining episodes if the early ones perhaps didn’t sell as well as they might have hoped. That way, early adopters and diehard fans wouldn’t get cheated the same way.
As it stands, I have the same fear as Rook, that increasingly these games will come along, sell a few units short, and never be finished. And that is unacceptable to me.
I STILL want Penny Arcade episode 3. Who do I need to kill to get it?
Totally spot on. The frustration drips off the screen in this article and I completely agree with you.
I still remember the first time I heard about DLC. Gran Turismo 5 was going to have it (did that shit ever get released?) and people were up in arms. Now people seem to be completely happy to be victimised and if you do speak up they defend vehemently the developers and publishers. I’m pro-gamer and that’s only because I am one.
Like you I’m not bothering with Hydrophobia or Sonic 4 and I wouldn’t even if they came out at 400M$P per episode.
And yet, oddly, I couldn’t give a fuck about stories anymore. God, I’m complicated.
Top article, Samuel. You articulated what I’m feeling and didn’t even have to use big and clever swear words.
I wouldn’t touch an episodic game. Almost every decent TV show I’ve started to watch has either been cancelled mid season or at the end of a season, with no logical conclusion. Does my head in. I just hate taking the risk with TV these days, but moreso if it was a game because the possibility of immersion is far greater.
Then there’s the financial aspect. I loved Fallout (noooooooo really) but I’m constantly reminded of just how much money I ended up spending on it when you pull together all the various DLCs with the game itself. Scary, actually. Then we look at a game where everything is purchased in sections… like the dealer giving the n00b a sample of drugs in the hope that they keep coming back… and then they have you. You either keep paying their money to keep playing the game, or you walk away knowing that it’s incomplete.
So no, I’m not keen on episodic. I think it’s a GREAT marketing move though because you get to hype your product every time a new episode comes out and, in doing so, are constantly raising the profile of the IP and the studio. Kudos to the people who thought it up but I, for one, am not willing to buy in to it.
I definitely know how you feel – while I can see how downloadable stuff is a good prospect from the seller’s point of view, it really does bother me how rare it is now that you can buy a game that is complete with all of it’s content.
The main reason for this, is that I tend to play games in long stints over a short period of time – fully devote myself to that one title, and see it through to the end. See, I’m not against the idea of being able to download extra content but the truth is that generally, by the time DLC comes out, I’ve lost interest in the game. That’s not to say that I didn’t love the game but… it’s like reading a whole book, and then someone offering you an extra chapter 2 months later to read.
While I’m sure I would have enjoyed them, DLC such as GTA4′s ‘Ballad of Gay Tony’ and Red Dead Redemption’s ‘Undead Nightmare’ have been given a total miss, since I’m just not immersed in those universes as I once was (and that’s after having already pulled myself back in for The Lost and Damned). And I don’t know if I ever will play them, which is a shame.
I have played Sonic 4: Episode 1, and I loved it. However, the wait between episodes is really making it feel dragged out, and I’m already getting tired of it. And as with your own problems, I’ve got a little bit of a nagging worry that it won’t be finished at all.
So really… I found the best way to experience games now is to wait until they’ve more or less finished doing all they’re going to – I was late into Mass Effect, and found that the Mass Effect 2 DLC worked wonderfully seeing as it was all merged into my main playthrough. I don’t think I would have felt the same had I played it already, only returning to play a few extra missions.
However… I’m too impatient to actually wait until all the games I want have been released for a year.
@Rich – Thanks man, coming from the Lord of the Rant that means a lot. I had a feeling you and I would have similar views on this considering some of our mutual bemoaning and wailing on the forums.
@Mark – It is insane when you think about it… I bought all the Fallout 3 DLC at full price on my 360, and then again as part of the Game of the Year on my PC. All in all, I’ve spent a fucking fortune on that one game. And I don’t even want to think about how much I’ve spent on games like Forza 3, where I’ve bitten at every car pack and new track they release, and now have an “Ultimate Collection” edition which contains them all plus 7 more exclusive cars they’re not selling on Live. Cunts.
@Leon – I know what you mean with the long story-driven RPGs. I’ve downloaded the Mass Effect 2 DLC, but after 2 playthroughs already I can’t be arsed to play it again so soon for the extra content, so it’s sitting there on my harddrive doing cock all. I completed Red Dead literally the week before the Undead pack came out, so I’m just not going to even look at the thing for a long time to come.
While it doesn’t induce apoplexy in me (at least, not yet), I can see why it has this effect on others. I have perhaps been lucky in that I haven’t yet been burned by this sort of thing. I am on the fence at the moment about episodic gaming. Yes, it may help devs (especially indies) to generate revenue to finish the next part of a game, but I can see how it is a risky investment for a gamer who may never see a conclusion to a story that they love. It is a smart marketing move in that it can help generate hype but, by the same token, leave it too long and publishers risk their audience moving on.
I was pretty pissed off when Hydrophobia was turned into an episodic title and though it irritated me to do so, I ended up downloading the first episode, if only as an acknowledgement of how much I had looked forward to it. I still need to get around to playing it. Generally, I would rather wait for a full game to be released and then play it all at once, but I can understand why some publishers and devs are exploring this method of distribution. I actually also need to play Tales of Monkey Island at some point; I waited until they had released all the episodes before buying a physical box set for that one.
Very enjoyable article rant! I hope for your sake that they eventually conclude the PA story, even if only in comic form or some other way so you can at least have some sort of closure.
They’ve been doling out bits of the story in prose format, and whilst I do enjoy reading a great deal, it’s not really the same. And what’s been coming out has concerned the third episode, but the story was originally supposed to span four episodes… I don’t know. It just feels like I’ve been cheated. Like I was taken in by a prospector giving me a lump of gold and I gave them a pile of money for it and for the promise of further jewels. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I’m a bit too enraged every time I think about it to come up with something better.
The arguements for Episodic content is fastly becoming dwarfed by the arguements against. That it would be great to think that Devs could put a product in your hand, you could purchase it and straight away they could use that money to continue developing that product and get more content to you in a fraction of the time it would take to make a sequel is wonderful.
The reality is that once they have Episode One out, theirs a 3 month period where they need to see the money coming in, potentially another month after that where they gather feedback (I’ve read that many episodic titles these days analyse you as you play to see what you spent a lot of time doing or how long it took you do perform certain tasks) and then another month re-evaluating where they intended to take episode 2 and how they will now do that. Then development finally starts, during which they may have a revelation about what they should be doing really, the fans tire, something else comes along, sometimes the developers revelation turns into a whole new project, or three new projects, development takes six months, testing another 1-2, marketing makes one final month and the game is released pretty much a year after the last one (if you’re lucky), the gamer gets 4-5 hours of play and I STILL HAVEN’T GOT EPISODE 3 YOU MEAN MEAN MEANIES VALVE!
:/
I do love the premise and if the studio was committed completely to a project, could program it chapter by chapter and get it out to you as soon as it’s ready, already working on the next then great. Sign me up.
These days the markets too dangerous for a studio not to be willing to adapt/pander to the audience and we get left out in the cold. I’m sad for you Preach that you never got to see the rest of what you expected to be a fully completed product. If it helps, Penny Arcade will probably stand as a point of discussion in marketing for anyone else looking to go into this line of work and hopefully we wont see it again.
Ultimately we have to just hope that as Lee said, the big 3 publishers and the major players of the industry step up and back a project from start to finish. In the very least they should really be able to evaluate the product as a whole, help them develop a full title and then if successful, help them produce DLC to extend it. I’m told that true to Rockstars nature, Undead Nightmare is fantastic value for money if you can look past the wheeling out of Zombies into every game and it offers content to rival what we all expected of Episodic gaming. Perhaps that’s just where the future lies.