Study Recommends Releasing Trailers Over Demos

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Though there is little to know information about how this study was conducted, who was polled and under what circumstances, the conclusion seems to be that publishers shouldn’t release demos because game trailers sell games, not demos. Huh?!?

The study, conducted by the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Group, found that a majority of the highest selling titles on Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 were promoted by trailers alone. Games accompanied with trailers as well as playable demos sold significantly less on average.
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I think the statement “publishers shouldn’t release demos” is missing a word here, a word that explains why game trailers sell more games than demos, that word is “crappy.” I am going to go out on a limb here and say that demos only hurt “crappy” games and game videos help sell "crappy" games. With demos, you know if you will like the game or not (for the most part). With game videos, you can only tell if the game sucks…after you buy it. Am I right? How many times has this happened to you?
 
I immediately thought that releasing less demos will only increase piracy.
 
I am astounded at the sheer stupidity of some of these studies....but, thanks to ones like this...we can expect an immediate decrease in game demos and increase in game trailers. :mad:

Game demos cost time / money to produce. Game trailers take a couple hours and video editing software.
 
Uhh, what?

I find that very hard to take as absolute.

But on the other hand I can believe it. Get a demo, play it, don't like it, don't buy it. See a very attractive trailer, buy it, don't like it, already paid for it, numbers look good.
 
Not a surprise - and I'll tell you why, don't even have to read the article.

In terms of games that are released without demos (meaning, games with demos released after the retail release still count) Take a look at games like Halo 3 - no demo, but they sell millions of copies in the days and weeks after release. Why? Uhmmmmm.... let's see..... marketing, hype, etc., I don't really need to lay them out for you. Same goes for a very large number of recent best-selling titles - Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Half-Life series, COD4 (read: had a beta, not a demo), even some older games like Gears of War.

Hell, let's see how long it's going to take us to get a GTA4 demo :p

Demos are only really for those games that aren't and/or can't afford to be well marketed, viral or otherwise. So although the statistics are very much valid, the conclusions are wrong - demos are not made for the best selling games because a demo is not needed to be made, but for the vast majority of games demos are still an important part of the equation to increase sales. Being a smaller developer and not releasing a demo is not going to send your sales into the stratosphere... duh.
 
^^ That - cheap games can't afford trailors - and the news commentary have the reasons covered.
 
Gott said:
But on the other hand I can believe it. Get a demo, play it, don't like it, don't buy it. See a very attractive trailer, buy it, don't like it, already paid for it, numbers look good.
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Exactly why the study makes sense. Bad for us, Good for companys...
 
Yeah, it's like s*cky movies where they don't give a special screening for movie critics - because they'll say it s*kcs and then it's game over.
 
I only tend to buy games after they've been released and thoroughly played by other people who I can ask for opinions ;) I never jump on the hype bandwaggons: they're ALWAYS a huge letdown: either the game sucks (huge letdown), or it just can't live up to the hype (also a huge letdown).
 
Demos and open betas have saved me from wasting hard-earned money on horrible games. I've also rebuilt my computer a few times just to be able to play a good game, so I guess it sorta balances out.
 
I sort of agree with the study. I can't be bothered playing demos. Even for good games they usually suck. (bare in mind that I haven't played any in a few years so this may have changed)
 
That study is retarded. Demos of crappy games, absolutely hurt their sales. Trailers of crappy games usually use CG cut-scenes and best of moments (like the movies do). Demos of good games, sell the games.

In a world of $59.99+ games... its try before buy. On top of that, if I know the game *might* suck a bit, but I still might like it..I won't even spend $3.99 @ Blockbuster to rent it. Free Demo please.
 
I can believe it. If I would have had the chance (I'm sure many would agree) to play assassin's creed before buying it, I'd be much happier with my $60 than that over hyped trailer POS game.
 
LOL at an economic stand point this is true:

Example:

Crytek and Crysis, all the videos looked amazing, performance was awesome and graphics look insane. Pre-rendered and touched up to make it look better then it actually is. Demo comes out, game runs like trash, comes close to looking like the pre-rendered videos. Hurts sales since no one wanted a game they couldn't run as advertised.

Demo's to us the enthusiaste is best because we can determine what type of system is needed to run the title, find bugs and report back etc etc.
 
Trailers are advertising, demos reflect reality.

The problem with demos is that hype doesn't work. Take a game like Doom 3, that game was ALL hype. In the end it was just another shooter. I spent about an hour playing it at a friend's place and was bored.

For something like World of Warcraft on the other hand, demos work amazingly well. Millions of people around the world play the game because the free demo hooked them.

I have personally never bought a game in my life without playing it first, simply because I know that 90%+ of them aren't worth $5, let alone $50.
 
Hi all,

After building a new rig last year in anticipation of Crysis (and be let down), I can say, that I will not buy another game if I don't get a demo first (or ALOT of good feedback from friends). I personally think that whoever wrote that article is completely wrong...........

Just my 2 cents....

SR
 
I agree with Steve.

A demo is like living together, a trailer is like a lap dance.

Which one are you going to bet the relationship on???
 
Nemesis999 said:
Trailers are advertising, demos reflect reality.

The problem with demos is that hype doesn't work. Take a game like Doom 3, that game was ALL hype. In the end it was just another shooter. I spent about an hour playing it at a friend's place and was bored.

For something like World of Warcraft on the other hand, demos work amazingly well. Millions of people around the world play the game because the free demo hooked them.

I have personally never bought a game in my life without playing it first, simply because I know that 90%+ of them aren't worth $5, let alone $50.
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Sorry for 2 posts in a row, the above post was not there when I just looked (of I did not see it). That is EXACTLY why I did not buy Doom 3.....


SR
 
the conclusion seems to be that publishers shouldn’t release demos because game trailers sell games, not demos. Huh?!?
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Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Game demo comes out, you play the game, you find out how tedious/crappy/sluggish/etc. the game happens to be, you don't buy it. Trailer comes out, you see kick ass CG cutscenes, super "zoomed in for eyecandy but totally useless for actual play" gameplay shots, it runs flawlessly, never crashes, and shows you the true face of God... that's bound to sell more games.
 
I fully agree with the logic of the conducted study.

To the people who say they dont agree b/c they dont buy games unless they can play the demo, it doesnt really matter either way to them. If you played the demo to a crappy game you would'nt have bought the retail game anyways. So really no lose their to them. And to the good game that doesnt have a demo, I'm sure word of mouth from trusted friends and game review sites/mag's will convince you into buying the game anyways.

So in the end they, the 'man', loses nothing by taking this new approach. When I read the title to this news post on the frontpage I immediately thought about the 4th season of Entourage and the Cannes film festival. They had this amazing movie trailer for a crappy movie. EVERYONE loved the trailer, built up tons of hype. Then people got a free screening and they realized just exactly how crappy it was.

So yes, the people over there do actually know what their talking about. At least this time anyways, most of these "studies" are fracking retarded no doubt.
 
I've been burned enough with bad games that I wouldn't even consider a game that didn't have a demo. Just makes me think the company doesn't feel that confident about the game.
 
machineoblivion said:
If there's one thing I've learned from Psych courses, it's Correlation does not equal Causation.
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I believe the word you're looking for is causality. But you're right nonetheless. This is bullshit in its prime. Game demos only hurt a game if the game sucks. Game trailers put hype onto the game but it means nothing if there's no in-game footage. Which, most trailers don't contain.
 
Steve said:
Though there is little to know information about how this study was conducted, who was polled and under what circumstances, the conclusion seems to be that publishers shouldn’t release demos because game trailers sell games, not demos. Huh?!?



I think the statement “publishers shouldn’t release demos” is missing a word here, a word that explains why game trailers sell more games than demos, that word is “crappy.” I am going to go out on a limb here and say that demos only hurt “crappy” games and game videos help sell "crappy" games. With demos, you know if you will like the game or not (for the most part). With game videos, you can only tell if the game sucks…after you buy it. Am I right? How many times has this happened to you?
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At first I thought the study was pure crap, but on second thoughts, it actually makes sense. Trailers help create hype and are great marketing tools, plus they hide any potential drawbacks. If you are looking to sell, this is the way to go.

Unfortunately, its not good for gamers.
 
The study is a very bad one. Huge selling games dont have demos because they dont need them. They sell from hype and fame. Comparing these games to lesser games just doesnt make sense, they are in an entirely different class. There are a lot of people who refuse to buy a PC game if it doesnt have a demo, if you are a new developer that cant manage to get media hype then not releasing a demo is a terrible idea.
 
Huge selling games don't have demos because 99% of it IS hype. The slow-witted masses repeatedly fall for the same shit over and over again, and continue to buy mediocre games simply because the advertisements told them to.
 
Lets see:

Demo
- Civ4
- COD4
- Half Life 2
- Company of Heroes
- Bioshock
- Sins of a Solar Empire
- Crysis
- Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar

No demo
- Oblivion
- Team Fortress 2 (correct be if i'm wrong here)

Brief inspection above seems to tell us that most of the best reviewed games release a demo. However, few of the games are not big sellers.

Those games are listed with PC in mind, so maybe consoles have more hyped but mediocre games. In PC gaming the hyped games are usually at least better than average, so releasing a demo makes sense. Does someone now if games that do not have demo for consoles still have it for PC?

By the way, I have heard several people to buy a geme "to see if it sucks so hard as they have heard" or "it cannot be that bad as they claim". Sigh.
 
In most cases,I wait until a game's had time to generate some kind of response from players to decide to buy.Sometimes,playing a demo will convince me.But seeing a trailer has never played a part in the decision,it's too easy to make a bad game look good,the same way a clunker of a movie can be made to look good in the trailer.
 
Steve said:
Though there is little to know information
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quick correction: in the sentence fragment above know should be "no"(my intention here is only to correct a grammar/spelling error). Thnx for the post Steve, interesting news.

---Slàyèr_(Slyr7.62)
 
On-topic Add-on(can't edit my post): trailers are fun to watch, and I just play a demo because I don't have the game in question yet, but I like what I like so a super good game trailer or demo isn't gonna change my end decision for a certain game until I hear other human people's opinions on it.
 
The thing is that the study, like the industry, doesn't recognize good or bad games, only games.

The majority of of games that are released are mediocre or bad, and you can sell more of those with videos and screen shots than you can with demos, from the point of view of this study, and the retail industry and the marketing departments, whether a game is good or bad does not come into the equation, the is only product, and how well it sells.

In that respect, the study is entirely accurate, more games sell better based on carefully crafted and controlled media that hides prospective flaws from the target audience.

That good games will sell better based on good demos and bad games will sell worse because the demos show them up as crap is not something they even consider.
 
I only game on the PC, but here's my deal... If they don't release a demo, I'm not buying the game. It's that simple. (Rules do not apply to anything related to Half-Life because they always make good shit)
 
gtg465x has a very good point.

and to that I want to say that is why they don't want to release demos
it cost them money and you can see just how bad the game is.

It ALL goes back to the console thinking (or lack of) show them some boom and bang and tit and it will sell. It doesn't have to be worth taking out of the box...they (MOM) will buy it.
 
demos only hurt “crappy” games and game videos help sell "crappy" games. With demos, you know if you will like the game or not (for the most part). With game videos, you can only tell if the game sucks…after you buy it​

I totally agree with this. I'm just entering in the "legal" game area. The 1st game that I bought was Oblivion followed by Need for Speed Carbon.
I played Morrowind (which came bundled with my Geforce Ti-4200) and I liked it, so I bought Oblivion because of the hype (on the day of release). No complaint related to demo vs trailer here.
-N4S Carbon: I played an illegal copy at first, but then I bought the original and I finished it 2 more times. (So you can consider I used the pirated copy as "demo").
-N4S ProStreet: I bought the game when I could (after playing the demo) for the PC. But after a few months, I bought myself a PS3. Since I'm in a country not covered by Sony's Playstation Store, I could not play the PS3 demo and I bought the game. Oh! Boy!....I was very dissapointed by the controls.....I could only choose from 2 setups (on the SixAxis), neither of those being what I was used to. But if I had played the PS3 demo before, I would have NOT bought the PS3 version.
-Crysis: was at the opposite side. I saw the hype (did not bother about it), and then I played the demo. When I finished the demo, I immediately opened my browser to check where could I buy it. After seeing my online options (to which only delivery time was a problem), I went and bought the game from a local store. So I had the game about 18 hours after I finished the demo (because I had to sleep and then go to work).
 
this will just push up pirating for PC games

ppl are getting pissed off at crap and if they can't try before they buy they will either not buy or pirate to try
All this will do is cause game makers to call foul to "increase in piracy" and use it as an excuse to leave the PC market (Epic with U3 have used poor PC sales as an excuse to leave the PC market...)

Its like game houses just expect us to hand over money for tripe, they are not going to change their ways and will do so on the console market where they will hype games with CGI and sell their tripe to a market of ppl that can buy and can't really sell


ppl go on that console will kill the PC gaming market,
it is crap games and savvy buyers that will reduce the PC makers market
and ironically it is the crap game tactic that will actually hurt the console market more in the long term



Game houses.... get a clue!
 
I don't agree with the study obviously. Generally, a trailer does not reflect gameplay or, at least, the totality of said gameplay, while a demo portraits 95% of what we'll find in the final game. And it's especially important for PC Gamers, since it's what we'll use to determine how this game will run on our machine.

So, from a money making company's perspective, it makes sense to produce trailers, which takes less time and often provide appealing reasons to buy the game. However, even if the trailer is amazing, I most certainly will not buy a game, without trying to assert if it's what I expected in the first place and that usually means try a demo. I actually try to avoid games without demos.

A good example is WoW. Blizzard's trailers are some of the best I've seen, but the game is really not my cup of tea. I would never buy it, based on the awesomeness of Blizzard's trailers.
 
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