[Case by case #13] Sylvain Colombero - Gaining a better understanding of information goods through video games

What makes your latest case (1) so compelling from a pedagogical standpoint?

Sylvain Colombero: The case is deliberately short, while the teaching notes are quite long. That’s intentional as I do not want to impose a single reading. I prefer to offer multiple entry points so that each professor can appropriate the case according to their own angle: one instructor might focus on crisis management, another on monetisation/revenue strategy, another on the philosophy of cultural goods. What also matters is keeping passive reading time short: the real work happens in the exchange, in the progression of the discussion.

Through this case, I try to have the students discover what an information good (2) is and its main features, as well as the evolution of the videogame industry. It is suitable for undergraduate students in IT, Information Systems, or Strategic Management courses, though students specialising in creative industries can also benefit from it.

This case could be described as a story of failure. Is that how you see it?

Sylvain Colombero: Not at all, and that is the most important reframing I try to bring. I am not telling the story of a failure, but how it can be overcome.

Yes, the launch is a catastrophe. The game is demonstrated at every major industry event running on specially configured computers that no consumer would ever own. So the “real” game on the consoles owned by the customers is slow, deceiving. Yet the expectations were rocketing, and the disappointment was all the greater.

Eight days after release, the game is pulled from sale, which in another era would simply have been the end of the company. But here it was not the end. Understanding why is a central subject of the case.

So what saved the game?

Sylvain Colombero: The features of information goods. A patch can be deployed overnight. Fixes were released a few days after the game was pulled, and a multi-year improvement process began. Four years later, the game generated over $750 million and won multiple awards.

But I want students to sit with a more uncomfortable idea: what started as a genuine attempt to correct bugs has become a market norm. We now have a broad consensus that a product can be released unfinished (3). That is a revolution, and not an entirely comfortable one.

You mention information goods, a term that can feel quite technical. Could you tell us more?

Sylvain Colombero: An information good is any product whose value lies in its content rather than its physical support. So you can think of a song, a film, a video game... Unlike traditional goods, the first issue costs a lot, but then it costs almost nothing to reproduce and distribute once created, and it can be modified after sale. In the digital era, that last property changes everything: the good is never truly finished.

Take the idea of finitude in creation. There is a rumour that the version of Star Wars that existed 1977 no longer exists anywhere (4). But a digital file can be modified, re-released, re-monetised indefinitely. The work no longer has a natural end point. That raises genuine questions about authenticity and about what you are actually buying when you purchase a cultural product.

Think of an artist releasing an album, then withdrawing it, then re-releasing a revised version. The work itself becomes unstable. Even disappearance is now a possibility, since physical copies are increasingly rare…

What does the case reveal about the evolution of business models in creative industries?

Sylvain Colombero: A single information good can activate multiple growth levers simultaneously. You have the base game, then downloadable content, then a Netflix series, then an ultimate edition, then a sequel. The logic is not new but digital infrastructure makes it faster and more granular than ever.

The tension I find most interesting: each extension, or DLC, must be substantial enough to justify its price without making the original buyer feel cheated. Pokémon is a useful counterexample here (5). And then there is Fortnite, perhaps the most radical model (6): the base product is free, and you monetise differentiation. You pay not to play, but to be distinctive.

And this logic is spreading beyond video games. Could we imagine unlocking bonus tracks after listening to an album ten times? Changing elements of a series based on audience engagement? The gamification of cultural objects is no longer a distant hypothesis, in a way, it is already happening at the edges of the industry, and could hit the core in the coming years.

What do you hope students take away?

Sylvain Colombero: A more nuanced relationship to the idea of a "finished" product, whether in video games, but also in music, film, and any creative industry shaped by digital distribution. What you are selling, when, and to whom, and whether the thing you sold last year is still the same thing today: these are live commercial, ethical, and cultural questions.

And I hope they leave with a sense that failure, handled with genuine commitment, is not necessarily terminal. Billie's team did not give up on December 25th, 2020. Four years later, she was project leader of one of the most awarded games in the world…

References

(1) "Anarchy in the Video Game Industry?" (2025), Case-Reference no. 325-0280-1 published via The Case Centre - https://www.thecasecentre.org/products/view?id=210057

(2) "Information goods are commodities that provide value to consumers through the data or signs or other content, such as pictures, music or other sounds, that it contains and refers to any good or service that can be digitalized" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_good

(3) Why are developers releasing unfinished games (2024), The Courier - https://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/why-are-developers-releasing-unfinished-games/

(4) The original version of Star Wars that has been lost forever (2025), Golden Flicker, Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcWg2WJ7Wu8

(5) For 30 Years, Pokémon Has Caught Us All (2026) The Ringer - https://www.theringer.com/2026/03/06/video-games/pokemon-30th-anniversary-pokopia-nintendo-game-freak-winds-waves

(6) How Does Fortnite Make Money? (2020) Investopedia - https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-does-fortnite-make-money/