Nordic Game: Telltale exec says games are "too expensive"

Telltale executive Kevin Bruner has revealed that his company thinks many games are "too expensive" and too restricted with regard to the choice of content on offer for consumers.

Speaking at the Nordic Game conference Bruner, who is chief technology officer at Telltale, told GamesIndustry.biz: "I think the industry is creating one type of content, which is the thousand-page novel. If you went into a bookstore and every book was a thousand-page novel - not everybody wants that.

"We've gone through five or six years of just one type of game offering - the 50-hour first-person shooter type thing. I think with the Wii and handhelds and the casual games space, we're seeing a lot of consumers who want something different."

Established in 2004, Telltale specialises in producing episodic games such as the Bone and Sam and Max titles. According to Bruner, the company has already beaten financial projections and is seeing a high demand for episodic content.

"All of our games are very story-driven, they're not action games at all, and we think that kind of treatment - that people, if they were offered it, would respond more favourably to that," he said.

"We believe that games are too expensive right now. A lot of not only episodic games but games in general are not priced appropriately. We also think that games are too big."

Telltale Games currently offers individual episodes of Sam and Max at USD 8.95, with all six instalments in the first season available for USD 34.95. Bruner said this model has proved successful, adding, "We think our games are priced correctly."

Tomorrow, Bruner will deliver a speech at Nordic Game titled, 'Why Episodic Gaming is Good for Developers.' He told GI.biz, "I've made a lot of traditional games, and I much prefer to work this way than spend two years making a game that comes out and if you screw something up, there's no opportunity to fix it - you just move on and do something else.

"We really like the [episodic] business model, we like being able to interact with the consumer regularly," he continued.

"I think once you get over the production challenges of creating a game a month then it's a really attractive model to be in."