The Slow, Strange Death Of The Demo

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There is an interesting editorial on the The Slow, Strange Death Of The Demo posted at RPS that is definitely worth checking out. I remember a day when a demo almost always came out before the game...now it's all just trailers...and most of those aren't of in-game footage. :(

I miss demos. I miss them so much. I wouldn’t be here, writing these words, if it weren’t for demos: how else could a sport-fearing, skinny young misery with only the slightest pittance for pocketmoney have found his way into playing video games? Once, my bedroom was littered with floppy discs, each and every one of which had at some point led to me standing outside a game shop, counting pennies with a quivering hand, praying I had enough.
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Read through the quote and knew exactly which website it was from before I even clicked the link! :D
 
Well if people wouldn't pirate the demos then we might see more of them
 
Ehren8879 said:
Well if people wouldn't pirate the demos then we might see more of them
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Piracy is my demo. These companies are insane if they think i'm going to throw down $60 on a game based on reviews that were paid for and CGI trailers that don't even show in-game content.
 
I think the problem with demos is they show off how poor a game actually is or how bad the console port is and cost them sales, these trailers we see now like you said arent even gameplay

nowadays it seems many games are short, poor, unfinished or lacking content, but they will gladly sell you an xpac or DLC. if games were 20-30$ + the 3-5$ DLC its not so bad but when they want you do drop 50 or 60$ and release DLC within days... no ty
 
I feel like this all started when I first tried to find a demo of Mass Effect 1. Much to my surprise there wasn't one, which I found confusing.

At least Xbox360 stuff almost always has demo's, but yeah, the PC demo era seems to have taken a steep dive, and it seemed to happen while no one was looking (even in never seeing a mass effect demo come out, I never gave thought to it becoming a growing issue).
 
Demos are only an option when they are expected to increase revenue. Over the past decade game companies have found more revenue is gained simply through advertising and hype, painting an imagined picture of a game. This results in people parting with their money before actually experiencing the end product. Releasing a demo, and even now, a beta, may cause either a confirming 'seal the deal' and attract more customers nature for a game, or a detriment to projected sales.

All in all, if you do not see a beta or demo for a game, it's because the market analyst(s) over at said game company/publisher/etc believes it will detract from optimal sales. So in other words, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the best way to make money off of a game is to get our money, trapping us before we can play.

Personally I wish I learned this years ago, so I could've avoided failures like Breach, BRINK, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, etc.
 
Fucking lack of edit

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I won't buy a game unless I can try it first, I know it's going to be good(portal2 for example), or it's very cheap.
 
I don't get to play some sort of a Demo/Beta before its released - You won't see me preordering any games.
 
They just replaced it with a "beta" which actually means "Demo for people who preorder"
 
lol demos are actually coming back more now than they were for a while. i dont remember the last time someone i know linked me RPS.
 
Blame that guy with the big teeth and weird hair at Epic, he said something about demos being bad and then everyone spit it out as being the word of jebus.

EA Pulled some major crap with their last demo by taking it away when the game came out, locking a portion of it until your friends played too!

All I can say is that I was Iffy on Bayonetta, then I played the demo and said oh yeah let me buy this now and I put in my pre-order.
 
i wonder how many sales are lost because of demos, when people get to see how shitty the game really is. How hard is it really to take an exciting level, polish the turd, and put out a demo ???

i wonder how many disappointed customers actually bother to sell their games.

more money in publisher's pocket = more call of dookie games.
 
Demos are tough these days because game mechanics and storylines are so involved. You need a bit of a tutorial for the demo, so it makes sense that you would use the opening/tutorial level for the demo. But those levels are usually kind of boring and don't really show the features of the game, which is the entire point of the demo. Companies end up having to create the demo as if they're creating a small game. That takes a lot of time that really isn't worth it anymore.
 
I would happily pay steam 1$ for a 1-2hr demo of a full game, and then just pay the rest to unlock it.. for console gamers, just get gamefly.

The demo-less all or nothing approach fails pretty hardcore..
 
it really boils down to development time vs profit margin.

if market research shows that releasing a demo doesn't boost sales to the point where it's profitable then why would they bother?
 
I've said it for a while now, companies try to wow you with pretty visuals and gloss over the fact that the gameplay blows.

Trailers are a great way to do this.

Demos on the other hand will show you how bad the gameplay can be.

In the old days, gameplay had to be good cause the visuals weren't the best, and companies knew their products were solid, so they had no fear of releasing demos.

Nowadays they'd rather put out shoddy crap and get your money before you notice you've been taken to the cleaners for another $60.
 
havent you ever noticed that demos tapered off around the same time that console ports were to become the "norm" for us pc gamers? They all knew they were less than superior products made this way. It sort of "hides" the quality a bit, just show off a flashy trailer and snow the general public. Coincidence of the timeframes? I think not.

Quality of game builds 10 years ago were more polished than they are now. Im not saying any back then were perfect either, but were better. Now its, how many can we get to market in a certain timeframe? Its called CASHCOW.
 
kcmastrpc said:
it really boils down to development time vs profit margin.

if market research shows that releasing a demo doesn't boost sales to the point where it's profitable then why would they bother?
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No it boils down to publishers being deceitful and manipulative to sell a product. Trailers and reviews never tell the whole story, and many times they are just outright false. They know open software cannot be returned at most retailers and use this to their advantage.

It has become a terrible practice that only hurts the market. Hopefully soon customers will wake up and stop lining the pockets of greedy publishers by voting with their wallets. I'm looking at you COD/Madden/Guitar Hero/Rockband fans.
 
wasteomind said:
No it boils down to publishers being deceitful and manipulative to sell a product. Trailers and reviews never tell the whole story, and many times they are just outright false. They know open software cannot be returned at most retailers and use this to their advantage.

It has become a terrible practice that only hurts the market. Hopefully soon customers will wake up and stop lining the pockets of greedy publishers by voting with their wallets. I'm looking at you COD/Madden/Guitar Hero/Rockband fans.
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Yes, everyone is out to get you and everybody is evil.
 
Of course. They want to blast you with an awesome series of clips so that hype will get the best of you and you'll make the purchase.

Here's the deal. Poor game w/ demo = likely poor sales. Poor game w/ no demo = possible decent sales. Demos mean there will be less resources spent on getting the game finished for the publishers date. That's why most are doing them after the fact.

Ultimately, I've got mixed feelings on demos. I've played good demos for horrible games. I've also played demos that blew me away and switched me on to a game I never thought would be so good.
 
GearBox is releasing the Duke demo. If I find it awesome, I will definitely buy it to thanks them for releasing a demo first.
$60 without a demo is trusting devs to provide a high quality product, which they aren't doing.

In the era of patches through the internet, devs can now ship games with bugs without punishment from the community.
Oh, they'll release a patch, the people always say. How about the game works the first time, they did back in the 90's!!!!
 
Shareware & demos need to come back. I remember getting the full versions of DOOM and Wolf3D (on floppy) because of the fun I had with the shareware versions. And I bought Arkham Asylum because of the demo. *loves Steam for having a demos section*

I wouldn't buy a car without a test drive; I won't buy a game for more than $20 without a demo. You want me to fork over $40/50/60 for a game? You give me a demo or I'm keeping my money. Well, with the exceptions of things like HL2:EP3 or HL3 (depending on what Gabe decides) and Diablo 3. Those are no-brainers.
 
Because if they released demos people wouldn't buy it on hype alone.
 
Demos are released all the time...but for consoles only. In fact, almost every major title has a demo on PSN or XBL.
It is just proof that pc gaming is an afterthought for developers, even though the pc leads in technology.
 
i thought the $50-60 game you buy was the demo? Then you pay even more money for all the DLC that should have been in a FULL game.
 
I wouldn't mind not having demos so much if the trailer actually showed footage from the game. All it basically shows are the graphic cut scenes. What does that do for me? I want to at least see the UI and some gameplay, even if it's not me playing it.
 
NIVO said:
havent you ever noticed that demos tapered off around the same time that console ports were to become the "norm" for us pc gamers? They all knew they were less than superior products made this way. It sort of "hides" the quality a bit, just show off a flashy trailer and snow the general public. Coincidence of the timeframes? I think not.

Quality of game builds 10 years ago were more polished than they are now. Im not saying any back then were perfect either, but were better. Now its, how many can we get to market in a certain timeframe? Its called CASHCOW.
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I would say demos disappearing correlates more with these days of internet based copy protection.

Since you can't resell a game any more, they don't really give a f*** if you actually like the game or not. Flashy promo videos and such get you the buy the game, and then what? Either it's got some ridiculous online DRM, or it's tied permanently to your Steam account,

So now who cares if you like it enough to play it all of the time? If they fool enough to get you to open your wallet they're good.

Before, a game had to be good enough to want you to *keep* playing it online, or with friends, or at least for a long single player experience - enough to keep selling new copies of the game. The longer they get you not to sell the game, the more they resisted the secondary market and the more new copies they sold.

Now, what does it matter? One person, one game, no rights of resale. Sucess is how many times people open their wallets for it - not the longevity of the game.
 
I find that reading/watching game reviews gives me enough information that I don't need to use demos.
 
WorldExclusive said:
$60 without a demo is trusting devs to provide a high quality product, which they aren't doing.
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Gamers have more access to information than they ever have and by a large degree. You shouldn't need a demo to get a good feel for a game these days.
 
reading this thread makes me really want to see a demo come out for bf3. thank goodness i have a key to the DNF demo already. i'll still preorder bf3 but i agree the idea of a demo is confidence from the devs.
 
I bought the witcher 2 without playing, based on trailers...

Worst... 50 dollars... spent... ever.

If only I knew...
 
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