What Episodic Gaming Really Became
I remember when a lot of videogame publishers, including Valve, were talking about episodic content being the next big thing. It really hasn’t developed into anything worthwhile, and a major failure was Sin: Episodes.
I think the problem with episodic content is that you’re anticipating that you’ll have a hit. This isn’t always the case… you may end up with a product that doesn’t sell, and you still have to sit on developing more content. Or, you half-bake the first installment in anticipation of working on future installments (see Too-Human), and now you have a crappy game with a half-story because you anticipated it being a hit. In the end, Too-Human didn’t have enough story because they thought they’d deal with it in a sequel.
Hubris.
Half-Life 2 was supposed to have episodic content, but instead, we get 6 hour installments every few years, just like a normal development cycle. Episodes were supposed to reduce development cycles.
Here’s what episodic content really became: Downloadable Content, or DLC
The DLC system works, because you test out the waters with a big developed game, and if you have a hit, you can then release new content with a smaller development cycle. If you end up shipping a game in anticipation of creating DLC, and deliberately remove content from the retail version, consumers get angry. DLC allows you to feed hungry players when they crave more of a title, instead of assuming they crave it before a release.
DLC is the rightful successor, and the smart evolution of episodic content.
