Would playable demos for games increase sales?

[Deleted]

The point being; No, demos typically hurt sales according to industry data. Thus the market is moving away from providing trials and demos in recent years.

It's usually because of what I wrote in my previous post. If you have 10 MMO's/FPS's games out around roughly the same time, some of those games are going to be worse than their competition. No amount of demos/free trials or piracy protection is going to help those games better their sales ratings. These statistics shown in the video you linked are statistics from a market with fierce developer competition during times when piracy is at it's strongest.

Everyone is essentially making the same game at the same time, aimed towards the same audience just because statistics show that gametype is popular right now. So of course putting out a demo showing the world that their FPS game is worse than their competitors FPS game would be developer suicide. This is where the famous MW vs BF feud comes from. Both publishers put out the same game at the same time to attempt to steal costumers from each other. It's a destructive and stupid sales tactic that is doing harm to the gaming industry and is in my opinion the very reason we can't have demos.

It's because of greedy and afraid men in suits with statistics it's so hard for games to succeed in today's market. It has nothing to do with the consumer being picky.

---------- Post added 2013-03-11 at 11:38 PM ----------

Just to add and make it clearer: You don't place your hotdog stand next to another hotdog stand. You don't open a jewelry store across the street of another jewelry store. You don't sell your FPS game at the same time as your competitor sells their FPS game.

This is exactly what's going on today and what's been going on for the past 5 years when the market suddenly became fierce.

[Splatter]

If it wasn't a shitty game, yes.

Problem is, so many companies put out shitty games these days and rely on pre-rendered trailers and big-name companies backing them that a demo would destroy their chances of selling well.

Until people stop preordering and buying shitty games, no demos will continue.

This this and more this! So many games I have bought and regretting buying. If they had had demo's or trial periods I could have avoided the mistake of paying for them. Diablo 3, Guildwars 2 for example.

[Niku]

If they won't offer you a demo you got to ask yourself, what are they afraid of showing you?

[Ave07]

< doesn't matter if/why you pirate; don't discuss it here >

[Faldric]

I predict that this would happen if demos made a comeback.
First the sales would go down, because people saw beforehand how shitty some games are. Then instead of manipulating screens and trailers, developers would start to cheat demos. The first hour of the game will polished as hell and the crap comes afterwards. Happened already with Dragon Age 2. Demo showed none of its weaknesses, since you havent been in the city and didnt went through the same 3 areas a dozen times.

[blackblade]

As the title read, would it increase sales to let costumers try your product before purchase?

For me personally a playable demo of a game does affect the chances I will buy it greatly. Looking back to the PlayStation era (late 90's/early 2000's), I bought A LOT of games, probably 4-6 games every month. I'd like to think this was because of my subscriptions to Game Informer, PC Gamer and Playstation magazine. All three magazines featured a disc with playable demo versions of all the newest PC/PS games. Those demos were something that really used to ensnare me into the game and give me that feeling of *MUST HAVE!*. After playing finished a demo it wasn't even a debate in most cases, this game MUST be in my possession by the end of this week or I'll mentally disappear.

From the early 2000's up to this day most of these magazines disappeared one after another and with them playable demos. With their disappearance I've found myself not buying that many games anymore. As I don't get to try the games beforehand I'm really cautious with what I buy. I will only buy a game if I recognize the title and publisher and not even then is it certain I will buy it. The disappearance/decline of playable demos has really limited what type of games I expose myself to and how many games I will buy annually.

In my opinion the removal of playable demos is a bad business move. What do you think? Has the decline in playable demos affected your game consumption for better or worse?

For indie games, no.
If it's a small title, do what anodyne did and put it on TPB, pay TPB to advertise that you're putting it up for free, and then guilt trip people into paying for it that way with a "Pay what you want, you're just going to steal it otherwise" model.

For big box games, maybe.
Most people would rather sell you a beta than a demo. Big titles use demos to sell smaller title (see: Zone of the enders, bundled with a MGS2 demo)
Ultimately, it's a marketing tool. It's not "free" to make a demo either, especially when our primary sources today of "Buy/Do Not Buy" come from reviews, youtube playthroughs, and other user submitted content, demos would probably have very little sway.

[Rennadrel]

Demos decrease the Sales of Games, because People can see how terrible a Game is. If a Game has a Demo you know its not completly terrible.
TB made a video on this topic and its clear that Demos will not be released as often, because people know their games are crap.

I dunno, the demo mantra has worked pretty damn well for Nintendo with the 3DS eShop providing demo's of big upcoming games and I know that I will be buying more then a couple of games because I was able to try it out before I sunk money into it. I tried the demo for Fire Emblem: Awakening which I subsequently bought and I tried out Etrian Odyssey 4 which I am going to buy. I tried out the Castlevania demo, which I am not going to buy because based on the demo and reviews, the game is crap. A good quality demo will convince people to buy a product, the problem with PC games is that creating demo's is such a big project and requires you to put in a lot of content just to get people interested as not every game has a pick up and play type of design to it.

[Deleted]

might not increase games sales, but a decent demo would put a dent in the pirating community.
example.
if there had been a demo of the Aliens : colonial marines game, I would have know not to bother with it.

[Dblbaconator]

There's one thing that a demo offers that any number of videos or reviews can't: hands-on experience.

Take the Dead Space 3 demo for instance. I was one of the couple million who downloaded that demo and gave it a try. As a fan of the series and someone who thoroughly enjoyed 1 and 2, I wanted to see for myself how it played and if it was different from the first two entries. What I got was a sense of the game being dumbed down to chase after a wider audience, implementation of dumb systems that made it feel not like a Dead Space game anymore (cover mechanics ruining suspense, because when you see a bunch of chest-high walls, you know there's gonna be an encounter; universal ammo and health kits aplenty removing any sense of resource management). There were some interesting concepts like the weapon crafting, but the removal of the more complex upgrading system was another thing that annoyed me. Then when I found out about how they were selling in-game resource packs for real money, I pretty much lost any interest for the game. I mean, charging for resources for a SINGLE PLAYER GAME? Where the fuck do they get off?

Contrary to what you might think, the demo didn't necessarily cost them a purchase in that case. These concerns were present for me months before the demo released, and all the demo did was confirm my suspicions that the game itself would be lackluster.

What about a demo making me want to purchase a game? Well, it wasn't really a demo, but the beta for Battlefield Bad Company 2 made me want to buy it badly. I loved the destructible environment and how you could use it to your advantage, the wide array of vehicles, and pretty much every aspect of the gameplay. Playing it with friends was fun as hell, and I definitely picked it up thanks to being able to play it beforehand. The single player was bleh, and I felt it fucked up what made the Bad Company single player memorable by turning it into just another modern duty call of killing things USA schlockfest. But the multiplayer was still great stuff.

More recently, the REVENGEANCE demo (can't type that out without allcaps, I just can't) convinced me that it'd be a fun game to pick up when I get a bit more cash. Frantic, flashy, and fun. I've been looking over all sorts of MGS stuff over the past few months, and I really want to get into the series proper. I'll get around to 'em all, no doubt, but in the case of the Rising demo, I know I'll enjoy it because the demo was pretty damn great.

To me, if a company doesn't put out a demo, it says to me that they're not confident of the quality of their product. They want gamers to just trust them that it'll be a good game, to throw down their $60 and just go with it. The age of rampant preorders for everything also makes gamers feel like they have to buy their game right away when it releases, or else they're getting a gimped version that isn't as good as everyone else's. If a consumer can't try before they buy, all they have to go on is basically the publishers saying "oh it'll be great, don't worry!" And we all know that gaming journalism is by and large in the pockets of the publishers, so it's not like you can trust every review you read. Consider how practically no AAA game has gotten below an 8, just because reviewers feel pressured to rate them highly so they can keep on getting early access to games to write their reviews.

In short, a demo will only increase sales if the game itself was going to be good in the first place. Be wary of any game that doesn't put out a demo, and do some more research on it if you're not sure. Find videos that show how the game plays, pirate it if you have to. I see no problems with pirating a game and buying it later if you find you enjoy it; it lets you try the game for yourself and still rewards the developers with compensation. But don't just sit there and take it. Developers are not entitled to sales, no matter how they might try to guilt you into it.

Be an informed consumer.

[IRunSoFarAway]

I think it would, most of the people that want a game usually don't make it into the beta, so the only thing they have to decide are videos/pictures of the game, and for me, that's not enough to make me want to buy anything.

[Voidgazer]

As the title read, would it increase sales to let costumers try your product before purchase?

That's easy to answer. Let's say, we have four possible scenarios.
1. Player likes the demo, and the game is good.
2. Player likes the demo, but the game is shit.
3. Player doesn't like the demo, but the game is good.
4. Player doesn't like the demo, and the game is shit.

In the first case, it's obvios that this is a win-win situation for both sides.
In the second case, player will most certainly be disappointed not only with the game, but also with the company. Or it at least will create a mistrust between the two.
In the third case, despite the game being good, player might not even pick it up on release, since he wasn't impressed by the demo.
And finally, in the fourth case, it is also obvious, that releasing the demo will actually hurt the sales even more, compared to players buying the game blindly.

It's statistically unprofitable for game companies to release demos for their products. Not to mention that demos pull resources and staff off the main project, albeit a little.

[Djuntas]

I sure don't think demo's help the suits and ties to earn more. Atleast last time I tried a demo I returned the game (Was a gift, and besides from what I could read about it, it and played from the demo, I rather get the money).

[Powerogue]

Even with no demos, I always take a look at games before I buy them, anyone who doesn't do so is wasting their money on a gamble.

Whether it be pirating, demos, or let's plays, I'm going to see actual gameplay before a cent is paid.

[abijax]

There seems to be some evidence and consensus in the industry that demos deter sales.
...

Actually that only shows you should release the demo after initial hype/impulse based sales are done. Not that demos aren't helping sales.
If the game is worthwhile getting people to try it is the best thing to do after the initial spike in sales goes stale.

[PizzaSHARK]

< doesn't matter if/why you pirate; don't discuss it here >

I actually pre-ordered Space Marine solely because THQ had a demo for it. I enjoyed the demo, and the full game was worth buying (though it got a bit repetitive about halfway through), but I bought it at the $60 full price instead of waiting for a $20 sale pretty much entirely because they made a proper demo for it.

More on topic, F2P games are a great way of bridging the gap between demo and "buy the game without trying it." I really do think the F2P model is the best solution to the "don't want to spend $60 on a lemon" variety of piracy.

[Adam Jensen]

I'm more likely to buy a game if I can play the demo to test game play and make sure it works on my system.

[mag07]

If the game is good, then the answer is yes. If the game is crap, then no. Since sadly, majority of games that flood the market are far from good, the general answer is no. The only reason some companies make money is because you need to pay to even try.

[Sj]

I'm not sure that demos would really help or hurt. For "mainstream" games you'd have the people that would buy the game because they liked the demo and those that were just going to buy, then those that don't buy. Some people might've bought the full game if they wouldn't have found something they didn't like about the demo, and this could possibly offset any good the demo could produce. Game companies (and retail as a whole) rely on people making impulse and/or uninformed purchases. Giving your consumer time to talk themselves out of a purchase can be just as harmful as trying to convince a reluctant buyer of your product's virtues.

Edit: Let me add that I like demos for the sole purpose of seeing how well my PC runs the game.

[Airlick]

Kinda offtopic, but coming from a small town in a shithole of a country, I had difficulties even laying hands on a game about 10 years back. There were no game shops in my town and shops didn't even have an option to send a game to a customer, or sometimes the game wasn't even distributed in my country. Demos from magazines allowed me to see if the game was actually worth a trip to the capital or asking someone else to get it for me. But now, when internet is fast and easily accessible, there is absolutely no problem watching gameplays, reading reviews or comments etc.
So I think demos age is generally over, not only because of greedy developers.


And anyway, if you can't wait for a game for a few days after launch and you get ripped off when it turns out to be terrible, then you asked for it.

[Deleted]

Kinda offtopic, but coming from a small town in a shithole of a country, I had difficulties even laying hands on a game about 10 years back. There were no game shops in my town and shops didn't even have an option to send a game to a customer, or sometimes the game wasn't even distributed in my country. Demos from magazines allowed me to see if the game was actually worth a trip to the capital or asking someone else to get it for me. But now, when internet is fast and easily accessible, there is absolutely no problem watching gameplays, reading reviews or comments etc.
So I think demos age is generally over, not only because of greedy developers.


And anyway, if you can't wait for a game for a few days after launch and you get ripped off when it turns out to be terrible, then you asked for it.

That sounds like a kids nightmare xD

In response to the last row in your post: I've never found those reviews/gameplay videos to be very useful. The reviews are always heavily subjective and in 90% of the cases they have the exact opposite taste in games than I have. I hate CoD/BF games for example. Those games are praised by almost every reviewer on the internet. And gameplay videos are just as unreliable in most cases. They show you the best of the best, often scripted scenes and pass it off as live gameplay. I mean, just look at Skyrim's live gameplay videos. Combat looks freaking amazing! It's stale,boring and fucking sucks in reality. And this is from a game I actually like overall. There's no telling with reviews or gameplay footage. Demo's are still unreliable at times but they give you a much better look at what your 60 bucks go to.