It takes a LOT of work to write a game but unlike a book, a lot of people never finish a game so they dont see all of it. I imagine the majority of customers only see the first 30% of a game, but a developer must take the time and energy (and money) to finish the entire thing before showing it to anyone.

I've started to listen to a podcast about games. They were totally ripping on a game, and how you would play it for 20 minutes and then put it away for forever. Knowing how much work it takes, I felt bad for the developers which got me to thinking...

Why not release games in installments?

Episodic games would flip the game design paradigm upside down. Instead of laboring on the entire game before you release it, take a lesson from books, and split it into sections. Charge $20 for each installment and release them a few months apart.

People who like the game will pay more than they would have ($50 vs 3x$20). Others may be more likely to give it a try at the lower price point.

The idea also borrows a lesson for the "if you are gonna fail, fail early" philosophy. If people dont get past the first chapter and want to buy more, stop development and cut your losses. Games take a lot of initial investment and episodic development provides a hedge against future losses.

This is not a new idea so I assume one of the main reasons it has not happened yet is distribution. Traditionally games are burned to a CD, packaged in a box and shipped to retailers for sale.

Despite the tradition, these distribution issues can be overcome today. You could sell the initial game traditionally and sell modules as downloads. Or you could sell the chapters as CD's by mail - this method would be similar to Netflix and has the added advantage of getting real hard data on your customers. Or you could just do the whole thing as a download with a distribution platform like Steam, which is a very impressive and far-reaching product.

It always takes a few years for reality to catch up with the visionaries. On Demand content has been kicking around for several years now but it is about time we see something tangible in the PC game world. The real question is whether any of the big players will want to pursue it or if they will fight it instead.