Not For Broadcast

The game is set in a fictional country with similarities to the United Kingdom, from 1984 to 1991.

The player plays the role of the faceless studio director Alex Winston in the production control room of the National Nightly News.

The plot unfolds over several years in a fictional unnamed nation resembling the United Kingdom. Alex Winston, a janitor at the nation's largest television network, Channel One, is suddenly thrust into the broadcast manager role for the National Nightly News when the former manager, Dave, flees the country, forcing Alex to edit the election-night broadcast in his place.

The left-wing to far-left progressive political party Advance, led by lawyer Julia Salisbury and television personality Peter Clement, delivers an acceptance speech for an unexpected landslide victory that occurs after the previous government suffers constant scandals and economic problems, leading to a snap election. Advance implements several radical reforms, including wealth redistribution, right to die policies, a national quality assurance mark, increased police forces, and nationalisation of several large corporations. Over time, Advance becomes increasingly authoritarian in its governance, including limiting the freedom of the press and requesting censorship of anti-government statements. A resistance group known as Disrupt forms, seeking to remove Advance, reverse its policies, and redistribute wealth back to the formerly wealthy to counteract Advance's agenda.

The first episode of Not For Broadcast was released in early access on 30 January 2020, with the developers stating their intention to keep it in early access for approximately eighteen months while updating three free new episodes that caused the game's price to increase. Days before filming began for a second episode, the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom led to lockdowns which ceased all production. Instead of pausing production, the developers chose to create a bonus chapter titled Not For Broadcast: Lockdown, which contains a new storyline, with the cast being stuck at home "as they shelter from a rampaging horde of animatronic children's toys." The chapter was released alongside a new challenge mode, featuring four different challenge variations.

Due to the lockdown delaying production on the game, the original plan to have four episodes was revised, and the story was rewritten to be told in three episodes instead. Finally, a year after the original release, on 28 January 2021 a second episode was released, which showcased impacts of certain decisions in previous chapters and was released together with an hour-long documentary, Not for Broadcast: Lights, Camera, Lockdown, about how the development team behind the game managed to produce two video-filled updates of the game amidst a global pandemic. After releasing Episode 2, the production was halted once again by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, which further delayed the release of Episode 3 until 25 January 2022.

Not For Broadcast received generally positive reviews from critics both in early access and upon its full release. The game was complimented for its innovative concept and gameplay, including the satirical over-the-top content video segments and the production control room mechanics. Criticism went to its "on-the-nose political commentary" in the earliest early access version, with Cass Marshall writing for Polygon "[the game is] laying it on pretty thick." On Steam, the game has "overwhelmingly positive" user reviews.

According to Guinness World Records, the game has a record of the "Most Full Motion Video footage in a videogame", clocking in at 42 hours, 57 minutes, and 52 seconds. This, in turn, was also covered positively by multiple media outlets.