episodic content

[NothingLikeit]

has anyone had any luck with selling content as episodes? The reason I ask is because I have an idea to sell off level packs of 15 missons for a low price. Maybe 10 dollars or whatever.... But I wanted to know has anyone ever tried this?

What would be the best way to distribute the product? (I'm going to do it as shareware via regnow.)

What kind of business model would work with this. (eg subscription, one time fee?)

[Pyabo]

Do you know of any successful games that have followed this model? That might be a good indication... Others have tried it. No one seems interested in buying it.

Personally, I think "episodic content" needs to go the way of "information superhighway."

[Black Hydra]

I think a variation of this is expansion packs. Usually with a successful game like Ricochet, you can make a bunch of new levels and release it as a completely new product.

Personally 10$ for 15 missions sounds like a pretty horrible deal if your game is similar to most of the ones here.

[NothingLikeit]

This is the problem I has having with the idea. My original plan was to make a game release for 20 bucks. (The normal way)

But then I thought a good way to keep steady revenue coming in. But then I didn't know how much to charge..... and how much to give away.

So I'll probably stick to the regular model for now.

But I know some games have subscriptions that regularly release content...

I still think there is some benefit to the developer and the consumer. For us we can make highly polished content by focusing on a smaller piece of the game. For consumers, they get a fun game experience for cheaper.

So only time will tell...

[James C. Smith]

I think a variation of this is expansion packs. Usually with a successful game like Ricochet, you can make a bunch of new levels and release it as a completely new product.


That's what I was going to point out. Ricochet Lost Worlds: Recharged is basically an expansion pack for Ricochet Lost Worlds. But we sold it as a new product. It's a $20 expansion pack that doesn't require the original game. (Which also happened to coast $20)

Or, maybe it is episode 2.

The point is, when it comes to purchasing games, there isn't much consumer price sensitivity between $10 and $20. You can sell an episode or an expansion pack for $20. There is no need to require the original game and sell the episodes for cheaper. But you can still reuse all the code and assets from the previous episodes or the original release of the game.