Game Dev Claims Demos Hurt Game Sales

[rob_simple]

There is definitely truth in this: I remember as a young lad, I bought innumerable crappy Mega Drive games because the box looked cool or had Spiderman on it. If I'd had the chance to play those games before I bought them then the only games I'd have had in the early 90's would've been Sonic the Hedgehog and Sparkster.

Nowadays there are a lot more avenues for me to research a game before I sink money into it, though, like Let's Plays and video reviews --things that didn't exist ten years ago-- and I've bought a lot more games on the back of them than I didn't through playing demos.

 

[Maevine]

Bahahaha! Ahh, people in the gaming industry can be so silly.

Demos do hurt game sales---if your game sucks. That's why you should always, you know, try *not* to suck. Not releasing a demo out of fear of losing sales really just goes to show how little faith these guys have in the games they're making.

 

[Snownine]

If a demo is enough to sate your curiosity enough that you don't want to play it more, it's not the demo that's the problem.

That was exactly my reaction when I read that. Demos may indeed cut the sale of games but I think the ones that are really going to be affected by it are the crappy ones. Don't ***** because people don't want to buy your shitty game, make a better game!

 

[Davroth]

I have an idea. Put up demos for every game that comes out, and see if it has an impact on the usage of torrents.

That I'd find very interesting.

 

[Carrots_macduff]

it also proves the inherent fallacy in the statement by showing that piracy, even when used as a channel for unofficial demos, has a negative impact on game sales.

where is this proof? apparently i missed it. those were some very nice charts and graphs for certain, but theres no telling what exactly was included in their sample (also the chart that supposedly "proves" piracy for the purposes of demoing harms sales figures was based entirely on xbox 360 game sales which no doubt are considerably less prone to be pirated, so this is a pretty insubstantial comparison) and i doubt much consideration was given to any factors other than trailers and demos.

his point about demos and curiosity does make sense, but doesn't really bring anything new to the table. the type of demos he is referring to are for the benefit of consumers and always have been. however if your game is actually good, i dont see how having a demo for it would decrease sales.

 

[grigjd3]

I just don't like their point.

I appreciate the way you put this. The data is legit. If anyone looked past what was given in this article to the full EEDAR data that has been presented, the data covers all releases for the 360. It's a pretty good sample size that encompasses everyone's preferred choice in their attempts to negate the point.

It may not be what I want to hear, but it has a basis in fact. There has only ever been one game I bought because I played the demo (MechCommander) and there have been plenty I didn't buy because I didn't play the demo.

 

[Fursnake]

Shitty demos or demos of shitty games hurt sales. A good demo of a good game leads to sales...unless one just hates good things.

 

[Malkav]

Honestly, I can see where they are coming from. When I was a kid with more money and a worse internet connection, I only bothered with demos of games that already interested me a lot. If there was no demo, I bought the game right ahead and wasted a lot of money because of it. With some games, it's impossible to resell, so you'll never get back your 60$.
It would be interesting to have statistics on how happy the clients are with the games that had demos, and those that didn't. After all, unhappy clients will be more wary next time, especially with games of the same developer who fooled them once.

Demos just tend to be less deceiving and best represent gameplay, while trailers are often the opposite. And good lord, can they deceive. Metal Gear Solid 2, anyone? But if good representation of a product and less manipulation made good advertisement, ads wouldn't be dishonest.
Today, it's no problem finding video reviews or Let's Plays quickly after release, and even with interesting games, I sometimes just keep watching those. I'd prefer a demo, and would definitely spend money if it was good.


From my experience, demos made me buy some of my today's favorites and completely changed my opinion on them for the better. For example, haters got me extremely biased against the Devil May Cry series. At first glance, they seemed to have good points. So I tried DMC4's demo more to confirm them.
Afterwards, I bought every game in the series. But granted. It also made me NOT buy some others.

 

[survivor686]

Correlation does not necessitate causation.

I would recommend he account for review numbers when taking into consideration demo releases vs game sales.

I think he would find that bad games with demos will naturally do worse compared to bad games without demos. That will hold.

Now how about good games with demos vs good games without demos.

 

[Little Gray]

I cant really say I disagree with him. I have never been convinced to buy a game based on a demo and have actually not bought several games I otherwise would have because of the demo. They were actually fairly good games that I otherwise would have bought and like but I just didnt feel like buying them anymore. What is even worse is when the game is actually really good but the demo does not represent it that well and puts people off.

Sure you can give people the first chapter or hour of a game but that doesnt really work all that well. A lot of games start out slow and you dont really get access to the full game until farther in.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

it feels to me that the people pulling the strings in this industry want to see how far they can eat away at the foundations before they collapse.
shame, i love my hobbie

 

[Alandoril]

How is a demo expensive? It's just a slice of the game, say a mission or level, that people can play to see if they like it. That's seriously all it needs to be, that's all they ever were.

And of course a bad demo will impact sales...because the game itself is bad. The solution to that is to make better games.

I find it hilarious how game companies always moan about being strapped for cash but then often throw insanely elaborate gala events for their media buddies.

 

[Reaper195]

I don't really see his point as being...good. I'd much rather play forty five minutes of a game for free and like it than spend a hundred bucks on a game and hate it after forty five minutes. If I'd been able to play a demo for Crysis 2, no, I wouldn't have bought it. Because I really did not like that game. I then sold it online for as much as I paid for it, so problem solved. But if a demo is enough for a person to not want to buy a game...it's not the demo's fault that they didn't want the game. It's the developers fault for not making the game better.

Hell, another good example is Dead Space 3. I still don't see Isaac as remotely interesting, and I no longer am terrified of being attatcked when I've got a massive assault rifle which fires super fast with an attatchment which fires electrically charged spikes. And with that hour or so of the game I never paid for, I won't end up shelling out a hundred and twenty bucks (Games in New Zealand are disgustingly expensive...) for a game that I won't enjoy and regret buying an hour after playing it.

People want demos to see if they want the game. Expecting them to buy the game based entirely on blind faith and a pre-rendered CGI/Live action trailer is fucking arrogant and selfish.

 

[DjinnFor]

I remember hearing something about this, that out of 9 possible scenarios (made up with 3 levels of demo quality ad 3 levels of game quality) that only 2 out of those 9 possibilities will actually lead into increased sales (a terrible game with an amazing demo, and an okay game with an amazing demo) Every other combination either results in no noticeable increase or, in other cases, a decrease in sales.

The Extra Creditz analysis overgeneralizes and contradicts itself.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I remember hearing something about this, that out of 9 possible scenarios (made up with 3 levels of demo quality ad 3 levels of game quality) that only 2 out of those 9 possibilities will actually lead into increased sales (a terrible game with an amazing demo, and an okay game with an amazing demo) Every other combination either results in no noticeable increase or, in other cases, a decrease in sales.

The Extra Creditz analysis overgeneralizes and contradicts itself.

How do you figure? In a game's case, the only type of demo that's useful is a great demo. Bad demos only serve to harm a game, regardless of the final quality, while okay demos only serve to make people wait to buy instead of do day-one buys. The exception of course would be a great game, since chances are that a demo won't increase sales all that much if it's already getting good marketing, good word of mouth, or is already part of a franchise.

I fail to see what the issue here is, unless there's something you're seeing that I'm not.

 

[lordmardok]

Demo's also have a nasty habit of telling you whether a game is shitty or not. Funny how he doesn't mention anything about the fact that gamers don't want to buy genuinely badly designed games, like, I dunno, two fucking thirds of the triple A titles released in the last year? Yeah, I bet that has a pretty big god damn effect on sales too.

 

[lordmardok]

with the latest big name game out the door that had a blanket marketing campaign and playing on peoples memories of the movie aliens i do wonder how the sales of colonial marines would of gone with a demo. really, really, really badly id say

See, he says: Demo's cut sales.
I say: If there's no demo, what don't they want you to see?

Then I don't buy the game because if they were confident in it's appeal they would've made a demo.

 

[Dumoras]

funny how game demos helped me decide to buy fora horizon, viva pinata, dragon age 2,battlefield 3, alpha protocol, trails evolution and Minecraft for the Xbox. hell. if i can find a hard copy for enslaved: odyssey to the west, I'll buy that too.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Ah, someone has been watching Extra Creditz, haven't they?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/demo-daze

son of a ....

fine ... beat me to it, see if i care