Do Episodic Games have a Future?

Telltale Games has made episode 1 of the walking dead free on Xbox Live until the 29^th December, no doubt in a bid to get us to by the other four episodes. With great critical acclaim it’s fairly certain season 2 is in the pipeline, but is it a viable move for other developers?

Telltale’s whole business model is based around making episodic games for licensed franchises. Unfortunately, very few of their previous works have been very successful, with nothing even coming close to the Walking Dead series. Other companies also haven’t had much success with episodic games, Sonic 4 only ever released two episodes neither of which were very successful. So why would anyone go for it?

Well firstly Telltale produced Tales of Monkey Island, which was very good so some positives to be gained from there. Also a large benefit of episodic games is that smaller studios don’t need to make a huge big budget blockbuster all in one go which can be very expensive for a company that has a small and not always continuous income. For audiences, each episode is significantly cheaper, sometimes similar to or less than the price of DLC for a ‘normal’ game. This is in a world where short, cheap games are becoming more popular. Smartphones and Steam have had great success selling games for low prices. It is true that gaming may be moving away from a £40 game. For these reasons, episodic games give a better opportunity, arguably, to smaller, independent developers.

Sonic 4 went episodic probably based on production costs because the return was uncertain. Sonic 3 was released back in 1994, back when he and Mario were still king. Sonic’s appeal has diminished in the years after then and so it would have been difficult to tell whether Sonic 4, a continuation form Sonic 3, would have been successful. By making it episodic, Sega didn’t have to pour millions in and could pull funding whenever they wanted.

However, Telltale’s reasons for episodic games are beyond the economic. Telltale combines their use of episodic games with other media franchises, such as the Walking Dead, Law & Order and Wallace & Gromit. These are (mostly) TV series’ and hence the games are formatted like TV series’. If you look at the video game industry, it is largely based on the film industry. Work for months, a year, two even three, then create one product that is pure, concentrated enjoyment in the space of 10-20 hours. Aside from the differing time scales, this is largely how films are made, of course games often have better replay-ability but the film industry makes money later through DVD, blu-ray and licensing to TV. Both have also found later incomes through digital distribution as DLC or through on demand services like LoveFilm or Netflix. Episodic games are more like TV series, the enjoyment is far more concentrated into a smaller time frame and it is crucial the ending hooks the audience into watching or buying the next episode, more so than it is with film. 

It is also crucial then for an episodic game to be released at set intervals, this is easy for TV thanks to a set schedule, but for games it can be harder to meet a schedule. Late Beta testing can sometimes run for longer than expected and often causes delayed releases. Some developers have mastered hitting schedules, the FIFA games by EA are always on time, though often release with countless bugs, some of which are never fixed. Telltale is also well known for hitting its schedules. By hitting a schedule people trust the developer to release the product at that time, hence they can get excited by it, hype builds and more buy the game.

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date, the next episode, my audiences aren't going to wait

Episodic games also allow for stories to remain focused and immersive. Each episode can focus on one part of the story and keep it tight. The greatest feature of the Walking Dead is how it tells its story, it is tight, immersive and hooks you. The same is true for episode 1 and 2 of Half Life 2 (though you could argue that they are DLC rather than an episodic series). The Half Life 2 episodes end on huge cliff hangers making gamers clamour for more (only for Valve then not to deliver). The fact that there was no episode 3 caused anger amongst the community since we could never find out what happened after SPOILER Alex’s dad died. END OF SPOILER. This only emphasies the point about releasing episodes on time. Some argue that Half Life 2 Episode 2 was better than the original Half Life game. The two episodes carry on the story like a TV series that follows on from a film. When writing its stories Telltale apparently works with writers on the TV series allowing for a game that is not just a poor imitation of the programme but a well thought out extension of it.

Episodic games may also invite a new group of people into gaming. Many people don’t play games because they don’t have the time to play an entire standalone title from beginning to end in a short enough time span for the story to remain fresh in your memory. However, to some playing a much shorter game in a month or in two months is much more appealing, you can easily drop in and out and it does not require constant undivided attention, in the same way watching a TV show takes up less time than watching a film.

Episodic games probably do have a future, but they are by no means a competitor to the standard game format yet. For that to happen digital distribution needs to take off (more than it already has done), probably until a large majority of the gaming community use digital downloads, which still is not the case. For many years video games have taken a format similar to films with a big blockbuster and maybe it is time to search for alternatives, after all developers have seen huge success with short games on phones, PSN and XBLA. Maybe the next step is an increase in episodic games where games take the television series model and adapt it. The model has its gains and drawbacks, TV competes well with film, so what’s to say episodic games can’t compete with stand-alone titles? Video gaming is an industry that has only been around for less than 30 years, it is still arguably finding its feet in the world and even the film industry is still changing, so a new format of games taking centre stage, stranger things have happened.