It's Time for PC Game Demos to Make a Comeback

Master_shake_ said:
and abusing the return system will get you banned.

great.
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I've bought and returned lots of games on steam since that policy went into affect, so I'd be curious exactly what they consider abuse. Frankly it was about damn time especially with the proliferation of shovelware and shitty early access games on steam.
 
I really used to love playing pc demos. I honestly bought a ton of games I would have never even thought of buying without getting to play them.
 
The new Doom has a demo, but I believe it was released a few weeks after launch.
 
DPI said:
Pirates often claim this - "if I like it I'll buy it". But after you've gone through the trouble of downloading a 30GB, 40GB or 50GB+ game, have it working and are probably several hours into it, what is really compelling you to then "buy it", re-download and re-install the entire thing?

That claim is bullshit. Maybe not in your case, but in many or most - especially with game sizes these days.
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Back when I was younger and broker, I didn't buy ANY software and didn't bother to say "if I like it, I will buy it". Now that I can afford to buy software, I do.
I like having support, should I need it, not having to deal with possible bugs introduced by a crack, being able to patch without issues and having multiplayer on games that support it.

As far as download sizes, who doesn't have plenty of bandwidth and storage space, these days? Of course, I'd rather read a couple reviews and watch some gameplay videos than download 30GB, but really, who cares.
 
I played the bf1942 secret weapons of ww2 demo for like 7 years. Then I bought the full game and they took down all the servers hosting online play.
 
I think demos are crucial for PC these days , i cant believe so many games have been released lately with Beta written all over them , its like releasing an unfinished product ,i know betas are a small portion of the game but it can give u an idea at least , latest batman was just unplayable with so many technical issues , developers who trust there work will not have an issue with releasing a demo . Steam does have a refund system but u cant abuse it so thats not exactly the same , i really hope we will be starting to see more and more games go the demo route .
 
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No demo means I do not pre order and wait until the week after reviews, wait for the 4 gb day one patch to fix the bugs then normaly end up waiting until the $4.99 Christmas sale. I no longer purchase $60 games to be an alpha tester for lazy companies.
 
Ducman69 said:
We don't need demos. We just need major distributors like Steam to allow for "remorse refunds".

We have that kind of consumer protection for used cars here in Texas, and it frankly is the only thing that put an end to many of the deceptive practices used by dealers to push vehicles with serious problems on customers, by giving them a 3-day window to return the vehicle for a full refund. Now, to avoid that expense, their repairs now go from stopping an oil leak with a piece of duck-tape to at least ensuring it can drive a few hundred miles before a customer notices, and they have toned down their hyper-aggressive sales tactics knowing that if the customer changes their mind at home when discussing it with the wife, that they'll get the car back and will have wasted their time.

I'd say for video games on Steam, to make it fair make it 30 mins of gameplay.

That way if its not installing right on your PC, there are serious bugs encountered early on, or the game was just completely misrepresented by marketing, that's enough time to get a feel for the game without being long enough to have played through.
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Or perhaps try before you buy, like get to play one hours of the game without having to purchase. Should be easy to implement with Steam and other digital platforms. Sounds like a fair game, could boost sales so for good games people don't wait until they come down in price before checking out to see if it's good.
 
zkostik said:
Or perhaps try before you buy, like get to play one hours of the game without having to purchase. Should be easy to implement with Steam and other digital platforms. Sounds like a fair game, could boost sales so for good games people don't wait until they come down in price before checking out to see if it's good.
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Could cost sales though, and you have to worry about turning into a rental service where people just rent indie games all day for free.
 
There was an article posted a few years ago that showed game demos hurt sales. Not sure how they came to that conclusion but maybe there is some evidence to support it?

Not having demos does not impact me at all. Like others say, the availability of 'Let's Play' type videos give me all the information I need to make a decision.
 
Back in the day demos (shareware) were an... area (? multiple levels) of the final game. nothing even close to being a beta.

But since most games are now released... well... incomplete... demos can certainly be seen as a bit of a beta test :p
 
Ducman69 said:
Could cost sales though, and you have to worry about turning into a rental service where people just rent indie games all day for free.
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Shouldn't be a problem if the platform only lets you run it for 30-60 minutes. Your account gets flagged for having demoed the game so not like you can do it over and over again. I think that may help sell the games, maybe not the shitty ones. It's probably good to help improve overall product quality in the long run. IDK, maybe Valve doesn't feel like they give a shit since this way they won't initially get any money.
 
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