Demos hurt sales

"What this study fails to take into account is marketing budgets."

I don't believe that most AAA titles release demos. They release a trailer, run a bunch of ads to feed the hype machine and then cash in.
 
MavericK96 said:
Demos hurt sales...if the game sucks ass.
Click to expand...

agreed. Saying Demos hurt sales is just as stupid as saying pirates hurt sales.

Game Companies and Lawyers and the whole bunch seem to think that if there's 100k pirates that means they got 100k less sales.

Who's to say those pirates would have actually bought the game if they didn't have the chance to get it for free. I'm willing to bet that most if not all would not have.


Some companies may have legit reasons for not having a demo (manpower, money, time, etc) but I'm also willing to bet that most don't because they are trying to hide how crappy their game is and most reviews cannot be trusted because those sites/magazines rely on advertiser money. Can't be badmouthing games from the people that pay your bills..
 
Last edited:
Making crap games hurt sales.

I've been burned by hype to many times. I refuse to buy a game without playing it first.
 
The only way I can imagine demos hurting sales is if the demo is actually enough for people to get sick of the game. Then, either (1) the game sucks balls, or (2) someone screwed up and made the demo way too big. Either way, it's the company's fault.
 
I dunno, Dead Island released that trailer that everyone thought was so awesome and despite the reviews being not very good it sold pretty well. Seems like there is a big trend to have some high profile well produced trailer for a game that shows 0 actual gameplay and people seem to run out and buy it.

I can also see people who buy games on a whim downloading a demo and thinking, "eh, I don't need to buy it." but if there's no demo out they might just go and buy it on impulse.
 
You guys don't realize it but you're making the authors point completely. Without a demo people don't know your game is garbage until after they've bought it. Ergo, demos hurt sales.

" the way to generate the best sales figures was to tease gamers with a trailer, with something that makes people want to try a game, but then give them no way to do so beyond picking up a copy of the game. “The things with no demo, you’ve gotta buy it if you want to try it,” he continued. The risk you take in making a demo is that people will try your game, but that’s all they’ll ever do. They may not have the desire to then go on and buy the full game."
 
I seem to recall the Quake Demo helping that game out...
 
I'll echo what most everyone is saying ... I love demos since it is impossible to judge camera and gaming controls by gameplay videos and trailers. I have downloaded many demos over the years only to be disgusted and not buy the game because of some terrible control scheme or wandering camera angles. On the other hand, I've also bought games based on positive demos only to find out that the fun in the demo? That was it, repeated 1000 times. Granted, the latter doesn't happen as often as the former. For the most part, demos either confirm a purchase I really wanted to make or convince me that a marginal game really sucks and then I avoid spending money. The AAA titles I pretty much already know what I'm getting into before I get my fingers on the demo. Then it becomes just a taste of the upcoming game, not a decision making point.
 
Quake was actually shareware, wasn't it? Like, the first level or two for free, pay to go further. That's kinda the way to do it...get people hooked on the gameplay/story, and then require payment to continue.

Basically, nowadays companies just want to scam you by hyping up a game and then providing no demo so you have to buy the game. And, of course, you can't return it after you've tried it, so they get your money either way.
 
Of course demos hurt sales. People would not spend money if they dislike the demo. That is why demos are extremely rare and show up AFTER the launch.
 
No demos means I'll probably just wait for the game for go on sale on Steam (PC) or pick it up used (console) IF I end up buying it at all after it fades into the sea of every other game out there.
 
they hurt revenues because people get to see how crappy a game is before buying and thus.. don't buy it.. as said above

Want to sell you're games.. make them worth it.
 
Ididar said:
I'll echo what most everyone is saying ... I love demos since it is impossible to judge camera and gaming controls by gameplay videos and trailers. I have downloaded many demos over the years only to be disgusted and not buy the game because of some terrible control scheme or wandering camera angles.
Click to expand...

I think what the research is showing though is that it's more likely a demo will convince a gamer not to buy a game rather than vice versa.
 
Demo or not, all I know is that I WILL play a game before I buy. By any means necessary. I don't think that just because I'm a PC gamer that I automatically shouldn't be able to try before I buy. It seems that you can try ANYTHING before you buy it with PC games being the ONLY exception to the rule. FUCK. THAT. SHIT!

You can rent movies and console games before buying, you can test drive cars or return bad food. But OH MY GOD I'm a PC gamer and if you buy a game and don't like it than the FUCK YOU! Screw that noise!
 
JoeUser said:
Demo or not, all I know is that I WILL play a game before I buy. By any means necessary. I don't think that just because I'm a PC gamer that I automatically shouldn't be able to try before I buy. It seems that you can try ANYTHING before you buy it with PC games being the ONLY exception to the rule. FUCK. THAT. SHIT!

You can rent movies and console games before buying, you can test drive cars or return bad food. But OH MY GOD I'm a PC gamer and if you buy a game and don't like it than the FUCK YOU! Screw that noise!
Click to expand...

I admit, I don't play demo's anymore, at least hardly ever. What I will do though is watch reviews and game-play videos and if I like what I see enough to get excited about it I will buy the actual game, just games seem to not impress me as much these days as when I was younger but I still do like a few.
 
Yantelope said:
Or you could just, you know, not buy games which don't have demos....
Click to expand...

Right, now lets apply this to EVERYTHING else in the world and see how awesome that would be. Would you feel OK about buying a house before seeing the inside? Buying a car before driving it? Buying anything before knowing what you're getting?

That track of thought is scary if that's what you're honestly like.
 
sculelos said:
I admit, I don't play demo's anymore, at least hardly ever. What I will do though is watch reviews and game-play videos and if I like what I see enough to get excited about it I will buy the actual game, just games seem to not impress me as much these days as when I was younger but I still do like a few.
Click to expand...

You're not totally clueless on what a game is like. There are videos you can watch. Reviews you can read. You can rent console games if you like. It's simply untrue that you have no insight as to whether you would like a game without actually playing it.
 
MavericK96 said:
You'd probably end up not buying like 80% of titles, then.
Click to expand...

If your stance is that you simply must demo. I don't personally need a demo to decide if I want a game. I read reviews and watch trailers, specifically gameplay trailers. Typically by then I have a fair idea if it's something I'd enjoy. Have I been burned by some bad games despite reviews? Yeah, Uncharted comes to mind, hated those games. But those instances are rare and since I'm pretty cheap and usually only pay $20 for games I'm not horribly upset about it. It costs more to go on a date to a bad movie and you get less for your money.
 
JoeUser said:
Right, now lets apply this to EVERYTHING else in the world and see how awesome that would be. Would you feel OK about buying a house before seeing the inside? Buying a car before driving it? Buying anything before knowing what you're getting?

That track of thought is scary if that's what you're honestly like.
Click to expand...

The reason we can look inside a house or test drive a car is because people selling cars and houses realize nobody would buy those things if we weren't allowed to sample them first. If consumers acted the same way about games then all games would have demos.

Consumers send a clear $$$ message that demos are not necessary when they buy games that don't have demos. Companies interpret the same message from people who pirate and then buy.
 
Last edited:
Mozex said:
Consumers send a clear $$$ message that demos are not necessary when they buy games that don't have demos. People who pirate and then buy send the same message.
Click to expand...

Well...kind of. It is more that the "industry" mis-interprets piracy as meaning that, when in reality it is a vicious cycle perpetuated by lack of interest in the community by the industry.

Game is released with no demo -> Game gets pirated -> Industry sees piracy, assumes game would not have been purchased regardless of demo (except in their monetary "loss from piracy" statistics...hypocritical much?) -> No demos anymore
 
MavericK96 said:
Well...kind of. It is more that the "industry" mis-interprets piracy as meaning that, when in reality it is a vicious cycle perpetuated by lack of interest in the community by the industry.
Click to expand...

good point, I have edited my post.
 
JoeUser said:
Right, now lets apply this to EVERYTHING else in the world and see how awesome that would be. Would you feel OK about buying a house before seeing the inside? Buying a car before driving it? Buying anything before knowing what you're getting?

That track of thought is scary if that's what you're honestly like.
Click to expand...

you're comparing video games to buying a house or a car? if you have to finance your video games then you're doing it wrong.

or do you want to apply this to everything in the other direction: do you ask to taste food at a restaurant before you buy an entree? no, you read reviews of the restaurant, maybe check out the website, and because its only one entree and not a ton of money, you give it a shot. is it disappointing if the food is poor? of course, do you go into other restaurants demanding free samples? no.

i just think of it as if i were the developer: "i've done my best to make an excellent game, how do i best sell it to pay my employees, my shareholders, and myself?"
 
I bought Dead Rising simply because the demo was awesome. Had no interest in it before I decided to download the demo.
 
batman arkham asylum was the last game demo i played, and i bought that game. but i think for the most part i haven't been burned by too many first day releases. maybe ffxiii, but i do my research and if i'm not totally sold, i will wait for it to come down in price...

then again i buy maybe 3-4 games a year, so if i were buying more i might have less success
 
batman arkham asylum was the last game demo i played, and i bought that game. but i think for the most part i haven't been burned by too many first day releases. maybe ffxiii, but i do my research and if i'm not totally sold, i will wait for it to come down in price...

then again i buy maybe 3-4 games a year, so if i were buying more i might have less success
 
I think if your game is garbage then this is probably true.

FFS they had a trainer for the Just Cause 2 demo. I played that demo for a week. Demo was awesome, game was awesome.
 
If that's true I think it says more about the game industry than it does about the buying habits of consumers, it seems obvious that a demo of a good game will help sales. More importantly I know at least for myself that I'm MUCH more likely to pay full price for a game if there's a demo to try.

The only good game I can think of that the demo likely hurt sales is the first Witcher game and that's only because the first chapter is the worst in the game and wasn't really representative of the rest of the game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top