Telltale's Long-Term Pricing Policy?

I gave the forums a bit of a search, but haven't found any word on future plans for pricing.

I'm liking this idea of episodic release - its a move that several devs have suggested, but never followed through on in the past. What I'm concerned about is the price-to-content ratio.

From what I've found - I don't think Telltale have yet commented on what their long-term pricing policy is.

- $19.99 for *each* episode is too much! - I'm not necessarily talking from *my* perspective here - I'm refering to Telltale actually keeping its head above water. It has to gain an audience, and swing that audience around to a new and experimental idea, and as we all know - people are afraid of change - a *lot* of people are uneasy about this whole digital-delivery method of distribution, even though its the only plausable way for games such as this to survive in the industry.
- basically, I would have thought it highly advisable to make this debut installment as inviting, well documented, and smooth as possible - even if the price goes *up* one the system is established.

What I'm hoping is that $19.99 was only for the first installment, and subsequent ones will be $10-$12... Otherwise, we're looking at a potential payout of $40 (close to usual retail price) for between 5-10 hours gameplay! - This is *realllly* pushing the good-will of your audience considering there are minimal distribution costs involved. Its bad business sense - don't try and get the big bucks from day one! - You'll cripple your chances before you've got started!

If the plan *IS* to release subsequent episodes at $10 instead - then please tell us! - make it very, very obvious that this is the plan! - the lack of an obvious pricing policy for episodic games is going to make a lot of people wary... if you don't inform people, they start to assume the worst.

My perspective is this: I love adventure games. I especially love adventure games with humor and an animated feel to them. There hasn’t even been an average one since Escape from Monkey Island. That was years ago, and I beat that game in 11 hours for $50. If Telltale is going to have 3 to 5 hours of adventure gaming goodness coming directly to my computer several times a year for $20 a pop, Telltale has my money. Heck, they could create an automatic subscription plan that will bill and send me these episodes as they come out and I’ll sign up.

GrimDanfango, I’m not saying you are wrong. There is a whole spectrum of customers, you can not target everyone and maybe they aren’t targeting you. If Telltale can make them longer for cheaper, great! I don’t think they can and still pay everyone needed to make these things.

I quite possibly *will* invest in both Bone and the Sam & Max episodes... I've got the money, and I enjoy the games...

My worry is for the future of these games, and the genre... episodic release is a great idea, but its new, and an alien concept to the majority of people, even the majority of traditional adventure gamers. My point is, Telltale really don't want to get off on the wrong foot - they need to start pulling in a bigger audience, getting people used to the idea, not causing its existing small audience to question whether they can justify the expense of the games they've been waiting years for.

Most of all - I'd just like to *know*, for certain, what the pricing plan is... even if it *is* $20 per episode, each episode... at least people can make a decision rather than um-ing and ah-ing...

Sofar, Telltale haven't really given any indication of their long-term pricing plans.

- oh, and 3-5 hours per-episode wouldn't be as much of an issue, but the general concensus sofar appears to be in the 2-3 hour region... which really does cause people to question an outlay of $20 - that's a potential 5-8 hours for your typical $50 game cost... which is seriously under par.

Hi GrimDanfango,

Thanks for your thoughts, (and that really goes for every post on our forums.)

I think anyone involved with Telltale for any amount of time will agree - we listen to, consider, and respond to (if not directly) many of the concerns of our audience.

We'll continue this tradition and look for new and innovative ways to deliver to our audience the best experience possible.

While this doesn't answer your question directly, I hope it will alleviate your concerns.

Cheers,

Troy

Hi all,

I just have to post to say that I strongly agree with GrimDanfango. At my current economic situation there's no way I'll pay 20 3.50 tax per episode. It's a fun game, I'll give you that. And I can imagine the work behind it as I'm a developer myself. But as a player I feel it is much too short for the price. Since its a linear adventure game, a lot more gametime is needed to feel like you get the value for the money.

Like GrimDanfango said the following episodes need to be half the price or double in length.

Thanks Troy...

Reassuring... if decidedly cryptic

Its good to know you guys are keeping an eye... I care greatly about the adventure genre, and its future (of course this is at least partially selfish - I wanna keep playin!). I say all this as much for what I perceive as the best chances for the future success of Telltale and adventure games in general, as for my own financial gain.
I'm employed full time in a decent job, but I know there's plenty of kids and students out there, as well as people rather less nerdy than myself, who won't be willing to part with the same kind of cash that I am.

Anyways, I await further details on pricing strategy eagerly. I imagine its one of those things that only gets disclosed when the board meeting is over and all the paperwork's been done.

I'm a student.

If the gameplay in average is 3 hours, I most likely won't be buying the future episodes. It's to short to spend my money. I really like adventure games and try to support the, but 20 dollars for 3 hours of gameplay. Maybe when I finish college, but at the moment, not likely.

Fun game though, a bit to easy, but funny

[jp-30]

There's more on pricing discussed in this thread, including this excerpt from 1up.com (though the "4 episodes" I think is just speculation / misunderstanding.

Currently, Telltale has plans to release all four Bone episodes individually for $20 each, but the company is considering ways to combine all the games together, offer a discount for players who buy all four, and even possibly release the game on other platforms like the Mac (a favorite of Bone creator Jeff Smith).