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Fable 3 Getting Episodic Release Post-Launch
by Alice O'Connor, Jun 30, 2010 6:50am PDTFable III will be re-released in downloadable "chapters" "soon" after hitting retail, Lionhead Studios head honcho Peter Molyneux has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz.
"Soon after the retail launch we're doing episodic," Molyneux revealed. "We break it down in chapters. We give away the first chapter entirely free, the first hour. When you reach a certain point in the game it says 'thank you for playing the pilot of Fable 3, do you want to spend an extra 2-5 or whatever dollars to buy the next episode, or buy the whole lot?' Press 'yes' and you will immediately continue playing."
Fable II received a similar episodic release, split into five episodes with the first one free to all and the other four costing 800 Microsoft Points ($10) apiece.
An episodic release "gets around this horrible concept of demos," according to Molyneux. "Anyone out there who thinks a demo is a good idea is crazy. It's never a good idea, because demos are usually done at the end of a game and they require an enormous amount of design talent to make a demo. The other thing is you're more likely to satisfying the curiosity of a user rather than entice them to play more."
Fable 3 is scheduled for a simultaneous Xbox 360 and PC release on October 26.
Comments
Man Molyneux just gets less relevant with time. It might even be fair to say it's all been downhill since Populous.
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Is he saying that the game will be episodic. or that they are releasing a demo that will be one hour free with the option to buy the other chapters episodically?
Cause I CANT see myself buying a $65 dollar game to play one hour then fork over more money to keep playing the game. What the fuck is that?
If it's a demo, then does the demo become the full game by the end if I pay for everything?
What is this?
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I think it's a rather good idea the more I think about it. Lets you see if you like it before spending any money, plus if you are a poor kid (or adult lol) you can just spend a few bucks at a time instead of all up front.
I don't see a big downside at all.
I can appreciate how hard it is to release a public demo for a game that isn't entirely storyboarded out (or not yet feature-complete), but I feel as though a pre-release demo on the PC has fallen out of the realm of possibility at most developers. Personally, I wouldn't mind a tiny side mission that isn't in the main story, but at least demonstrates the game mechanics. The Half-Life "Uplink" demo is a good example.
One thing I want to challenge Molyneux on: if demos are so hard to make, then why do you make them for events like E3, GDC, PAX, etc.? You make them for publicity, to show the gaming press that your title in development is an actual title. To finalize one of those demos into something releaseable to the public would be an awesome gesture to the community. I would like to see a developer try that sometime.
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