Been a while since we have had some good news from the Fable universe, but stumbled upon this information on the episodic content of the next Fable game. It seems to be following the format of Fable II with the first episode free followed by you paying for the next installment/chapter, just like good ol' Dickens Peter likes so much.
"Fable III is altering the franchise’s intricate RPG formula, hoping to reach a wider audience–including women and action-adventure gamers–and to attain a profit margin of $150 million, according to Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux.
Molyneux needs Fable III to push 5 million units, otherwise he thinks the series “will inevitably wither.” Fable III’s moneymaking strategy lies in streamlining the game, as Molyneux cited over half of Fable II’s features weren’t understood or used by 60 percent of players. Fable III will also cater to casual and female gamers, considering “about 30 percent of people that played Fable II were women,” Molyneux explained.
“The reason we’re doing this is really trying to bring a wider audience into the Fable franchise, because my suspicion is there are a lot of people who are the partners of core games who probably want to get involved as well,” he said.
Fable III will also be distributed episodically through downloadable chapters, since this strategy generated 1.6 million downloads and an extra $15 million for Fable II. The first chapter will be completely free, with the option to pay for the following chapter or the entire package at its end. Molyneux supports offering a free chapter over a simple demo.
“It supports this freemium idea,” he said. “It gets around this horrible concept of demos. 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 III is set for release October 26 for Xbox 360 and PC.
What do you think of Molyneux’s strategy? Less RPG, more action-adventure and a less complicated interface definitely has me interested, but then again, part of his plan is to get us girls interested in this whole gaming thing. Is it working, or is it just annoying? (I can always make you a sandwich if that will help you feel better.) Sound off below!
Via gamesindustry.biz"
Good idea, or bad idea? How about the game becoming more and more focused towards the casual gamer? Is this alienating the hardcore players?
The casual market & Episodic play - Epic Battle Axe
Up to now I have been quite enthusiastic about Fable 3. I find the idea of "over half" of the features in Fable 2 not being understood or used by "60 percent of players" being used as an excuse to possibly "dumb down" the series for a "wider audience" as a disturbing move that needs to be carefully controlled. Fable has to avoid the mistake of trying to please so many wildly differing demographics that it fails to entertain any of them. I know that the real force behind video games (like so many other things) is money, but you can't milk a cow that dies of abandonment.
ReplyDeletein my opinion this kind of changes my confuse and loss some of the franchise's fans, i get fable II just because i was a huge fan of the first one. in first instance i was kind of disappointed about most of the changes in the game, it makes me think about a very different thing, and not anything related to the game i was hoping for. of course, ones i was totally into the game i realize the cool new features and how important they were. if you want my guess, i think that a demos it's quite necessary, even more than ever, if the games is having this extremes chances, people may really love them or not.
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