Games, according to Newell, are too big. "For instance, only about 18 percent of Halo 2 's regular online community have actually finished the game," 🧸he says. "We think that ꦿwhat people want is to receive more frequent releases.

"In some ways Half-Life 2 was like waiting six years to get a six-foot tall chocolate cake. It's like, OK, there's so much cꦬhocolate cake here! In our mind, people would much rather have us spread the chocolate cake out over a little more time."

Above: Half-Life 2: Episode One is five chapters long and takes about four-and-a-half hours to complete

Newell also reckons that episodic gaming gives players access to new technology much sooner. "There's a bunch of technology in Episode One that we🐷 can deliver to gamers before our rivals," he explains. Anyone not using this episodic approach "is going to fall further and fu🍎rther behind. They're going to struggle to keep up with the technological advances of people who are doing it this way."