Molyneux Disparages Demos, Explains Fable II’s New Approach

Microsoft made a very interesting move this week when they revealed that the first “episode,” about 45 minutes of Fable II would be made available on Xbox LIVE today, free of charge, with additional episodes available for purchase.

Asked why such a move was being made now, nearly a year into the life of Fable II, Molyneux explained that he saw the seeming divide between the number of Xbox LIVE users and those who had bought the game. “As a greedy game designer I ask why,” he says. “I can sit back and moan about it and wish the game had more presence at retail or whatever, or I could do something about it.”

“Now, I hate demos,” he tells Edge Online. “I think demos are the death knell of experiences. Over the years I’ve done demos and they’ve either completely ruined the game, given too much to the player, or they’ve confused people, so I said that we should give away the very first 45 minutes of the game, completely free, and just before you get to Bowerstone up comes this message saying, ‘If you want to continue playing press this button, but if you want to buy the rest of the game, press this’. So people that are interested but don’t want to commit to the full purchase can play more, and people that are into it can buy all of it, and they don’t lose experience or gold they’ve collected.”

He goes on to explain how a conversation with Microsoft’s interactive entertainment Senior Vice President Don Mattrick about how the game was great, but needed to get into the hands of more players for them to realize it.

He also discusses how doing this helps prepare Lionhead for being able to deal with things like digital content, episodic content, pricing, and what influence this may have on Fable III. And you can read all about it in Edge’s interview.