Mark Rein Warns Against Serial Video Games

Posted on July 14, 2006

The BBC reports that Mark Rein, vice president of Epic, makers of Unreal Tournament, has warned against the idea of serial games. Rein said the cost and time needed to produce great games rules out the possibility of games being released frequently like television shows.

The games industry is looking at new ways to deliver content to gamers and episodic content is seen by some as a way of meeting demand and distributing to consumers in new ways.

"One of the problems is that you are getting a piece of a game," Mr Rein told the conference.

"You are typically paying $20 for a third of a game and waiting at least six months between episodes. That's a long time.

"When you are watching a TV show it's not that big a deal to wait a week between episodes because you are not paying for it - it's advertising supported."

But he said gamers were more fickle and that competition from new, full cost, heavily marketed titles would result in diminishing returns for episodic content.

Rein said "A new, boxed game has entirely new characters, content, storylines and an experience you have not had before. Developers have spent years making it." Rein is probably correct. There doesn't seem to be room for a serial game. You already have persistent online worlds for people that want to immerse themselves in a particular universe.

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