SiN Episodes: Emergence -- Episode 1 [PC]

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Yahoo! Video Games: Why have previous attempts to create episodic content models generally come to nothing? How is yours different?

Tom Mustaine: In the past, episodic titles didn't have any kind of established content delivery system, so actually getting them to the consumer was a real challenge. With the advent of both Steam and the Xbox 360 marketplace, though, we have two rock-solid platforms specifically designed to deliver high quality game content. On top of that, these systems are already out there, and they have proven themselves to millions of gamers around the globe, so digital delivery has reached a certain level of acceptance that wasn't there before. We believe that all of this is going to work in our favor and will help make SiN a success.

YVG: Will you be distributing the episodes solely over Steam? If so, how do you plan to market the game without a retail presence?

TM: Initially, we will be exclusively distributing via Steam, with a retail SKU planned after a few episodes have been completed. The marketing for the first episode thus far has been very similar to a typical retail marketing plan, with similar amounts of effort spent on marketing and PR -- the only difference is that there is no box in the end.

YVG: If Valve had not made the Steam client so ubiquitous, would you still have pursued an episodic model for the next SiN game?

TM: We would have definitely considered it, but the successful adoption rate of Steam really pushed the decision toward episodic. Gamers have already made the necessary leap in order to accept the episodic model with MMORPG games, Steam, and recently with Xbox Marketplace. High quality episodic gaming is just around the corner and you're going to see a lot more of it in the near future.

YVG: How do the costs of an episode compare with a full AAA title's budget?

TM: The development of the initial core content, providing the foundation for all further episodes, has been very comparable in cost to a traditional AAA title's budget. This is primarily due to the length of time needed to build a substantial base to draw from. Once you have that foundation, however, the actual cost to develop a single episode is significantly less than that of a full retail product.

YVG: Do you expect the retail sector to become less relevant to PC and/or console gaming as direct distribution becomes more popular?

TM: Not at all. To us, direct episodic distribution is complimentary to the traditional retail channel, and we see them working closely together in the future. One example is what EA doing with their booster packs for Battlefield 2: The main game is only available at retail, while the smaller booster packs will be delivered online via EA Downloader. Instead of competing with one another, the two channels actually work together to give gamers the best experience possible.

Once we get several episodes out there, we definitely plan on putting it in a box and getting it into retail stores, so even though we're going episodic, we remain committed to the traditional retail market.

YVG: How large do you expect the episodic downloads to be? Are you concerned about alienating modem users? What about territories where broadband penetration is not at US levels?

TM: While we don't have specific numbers just yet, we expect that the shared data will be rather substantial, with episode-specific data coming in at a more reasonable level. Modem users make up less than 5% of the Steam audience, while the vast majority is on a broadband connection. Similarly, broadband penetration in the US is actually lower than in a lot of other countries, particularly Southeast Asia and parts of Europe, so neither one of those points is a big issue for us. But we realize that there are people who will want the game and can't get it through Steam for whatever reason, which is why we will be releasing a retail version a few episodes down the road.