Agree or disagree with the changing length of games, there’s one thing we can all agree on: the first generation of lifelong gamers have grown up. In our 20’s and 30’s now we hold down jobs, build relationships, and start families — just like everybody else. But unlike generations prior, we’ve held on to the medium we fell in love with as children. But has the medium held on to us? No longer do we have room in our lives for week long GTA binges or endless nights of Final Fantasy. At best we may have four or five hours in the week to devote to the things that we love most. But what are developers doing to recognize this? Enter Quest for Booty.
Although episodic gaming and downloadable content have been around for a few years now, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty marks a watershed moment in the growth of an industry. Rather than focusing on the next 30 hour/60 dollar retail endeavor, Sony saw fit to focus it’s energies on taking an established franchise and offering a retail-quality experience in episodic form.
Gamers such as myself who steered away from Ratchet & Clank Future due to the huge time commitment now have something in the R&C world to get excited about. 5-6 hours is roughly the maximum amount of time I can spend with a game until I move on to something else. It’s not pleasant, but it’s true. By offering complete experiences in a short amount of time, developers and publishers can get their hooks in you quickly, get new titles out faster, and spread out the number of viable options to gamers. After all — if all games came in at a six hour length, think of how much time you’d have available to check out other titles!
If Ratchet & Clank can successfully make the transition from full retail to episodic download, anything can. Just think about this years two biggest releases to date — Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV. MGS4 is broken up into 4 very distinct chapters, each of which is about six hours in length. Wouldn’t it have been just as prudent to release this as four $15 episodes? Not only would it save the publisher on materials and shipping, but it would have likely increased the audience a sizeable amount. After all — would you be more likely to spend $60 on a game you’ve never played, or $15? Even if you don’t like it, you’ve only spent $15 and Konami has made $15 they wouldn’t have before.
Same goes for GTA IV. If it was broken up into 3 episodes (more than easy enough to do with the story involved), wouldn’t you have paid $20 a chunk? And after spending 10-20 hours with an episode, wouldn’t you like a break before the next chunk? Lord knows I would.
Of course, all of this pipe dreaming comes at a cost. Retailers would make a huge stink, lots of consumers don’t actually use the digital distribution services, etc.. But there’s no reason that these couldn’t all see a retail release after their network debuts. Full seasons of Sam and Max are available at retail after they’ve seen digital distribution. Besides — retailers haven’t kicked up a stink about all the DLC so far — as long as there’s a retail counterpart, are they really going to kick up a fuss?
Smaller versions mean lower prices, shorter development time, and more frequent releases. Digital distribution means an increased shelf life at a consistent price, rather than the 20-30% drop that happens after 6 months on a store shelf. It’s a win for gamers. It’s a win for developers. Would it be a win for you?
