The Closing of Telltale Reinforces Why I Hate Episodic Games

The Walking Dead - The Final Season has been removed from digital storefronts. 

Although the title of this blog says that I hate episodic games, I guess I should say that I hate the episodic format.  I actually really enjoyed the Walking Dead games, although I only played the first two seasons. I never got around to playing the others, but if I did and was further invested in the series, I may never get a chance to experience how it all ends.  The closing of Telltale brings to light some problems with the video game industry. 

Telltale was not the first company to make games in episodic format.  Wikipedia actually sites the first episodic game as far back as 1979, but it wasn't really a popular thing.  The first big game that I remember adopting episodic format was Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which is why I never bothered with the game.  I didn't like the idea almost immediately, because I hated to think that I could only play chunks of a game at one time and have to wait for the rest of the game to be made. 

Hitman was one of the largest franchises that I remember adopting episodic format, which I thought was strange, because it was usually smaller games and Telltale style games that were made this way.  To take a AAA franchise and chop it up like that really confused me until I realized that it provided an opportunity for the publisher to make more money.  Why spend years and millions of dollars making one game when you could split it up and start telling the first part of it right away, dragging the carrot in front of your audience until the next chapter arrives. 

Then several years ago, Square-Enix announced that the upcoming Final Fantasy VII remake would be released in episodes, and that raised a lot of red flags with people.  No one wanted to play just the first episode of the Final Fantasy VII remake only to have to wait again for the second part and yet again for the final part. Yet, SE said it wouldn't just be small pieces of content like most episodic games; they would be full games.  Still, the idea did not sit well with a lot gamers.  Last I checked, however, rumors are pointing to a 2023 release to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the franchise, and this should provide SE with enough time to release the game as one complete title. 

So, the problem with episodic games is that if you become invested in a title from the onset, you're at the mercy of the developer/publisher to release the remaining chapters.  Most companies usually are committed to the project to see it through to completion, but as we saw with Telltale, that didn't happen.  There's been a history of issues within the company that eventually led to the closure of the studio and now whether or not people will see the conclusion of The Walking Dead - The Final Season is unknown. 

Their closing also illustrates the problem of the Season Pass.  Season Passes are promises that publishers sell you for more content.  Just like the episodic format, you're under their mercy but with the season pass, they've got you're money outright.  The season pass was already being sold for The Final Season but now gamers are out 20 bucks.  They'll more than likely get their refunds but almost not likely at all to get the rest of the game they paid for.

This isn't how gaming should be.  You shouldn't have to play just a part of a game and then wait for the next part to come out.  You shouldn't have to pay for a full game that isn't complete and then hope the studio doesn't go under, leaving the game you were invested in unfinished and having to go through the hassle of getting your money back.  You should have the peace of mind in knowing that when you buy a game, you have the entire game to play through at your leisure.  Your dollars and your patience should not be toyed with. 

What does that say about us as consumers, though?  Can we really not wait until a game is completed to play it?  Are we so eager to throw our money at companies that we don't even care about having a finished product delivered to us?  Hell, look at early access games.  We are PAYING companies to test THEIR games!  We are PAYING for unfinished products!  We need to readjust the way we look at games like these, because we shouldn't ever have this happen to us again.