Puzzle Quest's Puzzling Marketing Plan

Playing lately? Oh, I've been dabbling all over the place. Up until finishing it on Tuesday, my main squeeze was Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and in between sessions of that I'd dip into Ridge Racer 6, Castlevania: SOTN (to whore up an easy Achievement), Quake 4, Hexic HD, Crackdown and Puzzle Quest.

Puzzle what? Ah yes, well I did take a break from the Box to try out the PC demo for a DS and PSP adventure/puzzle game from Warlords 4 developer, Infinite Interactive. If you're ever dreamed of marrying the soothing "match-3" puzzle mechanics of Bejeweled with the turn-based, RPG-lite trappings of the classic Warlords fantasy games from SSG, you've pretty much found heaven. I don't own any portable game systems, which begs the question of why I was able to play a demo on my PC. Flip that switch and jump to read the rest of this here story!

In a curious move of marketing confusion (or brilliance), Infinite Interactive released a PC-only demo version of Puzzle Quest to whet gamers' appetites for the game's retail release on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Surprisingly, the release date for the full PC version of the game has not been announced. Being a fan of both Bejeweled and the old Warlords titles, I tried out the demo on good faith that I would get a nice 5 or 10 minute diversion from real life. The game turned out to be incredibly fun and kept me up very late on Tuesday night. I was sold on the game and naturally booted back to the main menu, eagerly looking for a "Buy Now" button or some similar option. Imagine my shock when I found no path to purchase available in the demo. In my 20 years of gaming, this was a first!

Disappointed, I wandered over to the PQ official forums to find a healthy thread addressing this very issue. Since both the DS and PSP do not support downloadable content, the PC demo's main purpose was to allow prospective buyers to take a test drive before shelling out the cash for a portable version of the game. Based on the polish and size of the demo -- it's more or less a complete game, with a restrictive level cap and omission of advanced-level content -- a full PC release is inevitable. Or is it? More than a full month after the portable version releases, however, an announcement of the PC game has yet to be made.

On the forums, Infinite Interactive founder, Steve Fawkner, references a binding publishing contract that precludes the release of Puzzle Quest on the PC, nay, even any mention of when the game may even be available for the PC market, if ever. This suggests that Nintendo and Sony negotiated at the very least a limited exclusivity deal for the game to prevent PC sales from cutting into the DS and PSP's share of the pie.

We live in a multi-platform world now, so I say fair enough. Time-sensitive exclusives are nothing new and I understand the desire for gaming giants like Nintendo and Sony to seek them out. What has really irked me as a gamer is the appalling lack of information provided in the demo. I've been accustomed to seeing splash page after splash page in my demos that provide promotional copy on the game's features, price and release dates. It's very much expected now. There is none of this in the Puzzle Quest demo or in the official website (forums notwithstanding). This has caused unnecessary confusion, disappointment and I'm quite sure, more than a few lost sales.

It's also sad to see a developer like Steve Fawkner, a gaming veteran of the past 20 years, so hamstrung by what looks to be a very restrictive publishing deal. I mean, the man couldn't even disclose if a PC version of PQ would be coming, let alone when. I would have expected the creator of the venerable Warlords series to have a bit more clout in the industry than this.

How all this relates to the 360... well, it doesn't really, although there were speculations of an eventual Xbox Live Arcade release alongside all the talk of the PC version of the game. Should we be holding our collective breath? As addictive as it's been, Puzzle Quest is still a "casual", light-weight game that will be easily swept away by the crushing tsunami of A-list titles coming out this year. For a 800 point download, I'd give it another shot on the 360. It's just a shame I can't enjoy the full-featured game on my PC TODAY. (They could've gotten away with selling it for more, too)