Steam's Refund System is No Substitute for a Prey PC Demo

[cikame]

Why wouldn't they suggest using the refund system? While indeed there would be some who would be denied the refund, there will be those who don't bother requesting the refund at all and be stuck with the game, also i'm guessing publishers like to omit refunds from their sales figures.

 

[Kajin]

Ahh, I remember back in the day when demos could be found grazing the grassy plains as far as the eye could see.

Jokes aside, probably the best demo I've ever played was the Serious Sam demo. They took an entire level from the game and redid it to act like a small scale version of the entire rest of the game complete with all the weapons and enemies the game had to offer. As things go it was like asking for a small spoon of ice cream to taste before deciding on what flavor to get for your triple scoop and they just went and gave you an entire scoop for free. I bought the hell out of that game.

I wish every game had a demo.

 

[pearcinator]

This game intrigues me but I'll wait until it comes on sale. A demo actually might have made me purchase the game if I liked it enough.

 

[linkblade91]

...pretty sure I'm not going to risk the tentative relationship I have with the company stockpiling most of my PC games, just because you don't want to release a demo.

 

[Metalrocks]

sure, i pay for the full game, which cost 90AUD for me, just to play for less then 2 hours to see if i like the game. then request for a refund in case i may not like it. that makes a good impression on valve. i wonder if valve will comment on this statement of akane studio.
but, since youtube offers you what i needed, i could watch the demo, just to see if the game is for me or not. turned out, its not for me at all. looks blunt and uninteresting. after watching some trusted reviews, they pretty much confirmed my view as well and that its not a title for everyone.
but, i still think they should have bothered to release a demo for pc. since this prey looks so different to the other prey released nearly 10 years ago.

 

[BrawlMan]

I remember a time when demo discs came free with gaming magazines and they always had 6 or more beta builds of upcoming games at the time. That was as good as it got back then but it fucking worked and it helped sell your product down the line.

I almost miss those advertisement screens that blue-balled you until you could finally get the game for your birthday or Christmas or whatever.

I remember a time when people could get demo a disc through magazines or by getting them for free or cheap at certain stores. Signing up for PSM, Microsoft or XBOX Magazine, or Nintendo Power would usually entail the subscriber to free demos that came with the magazine. Sadly, the age of the XBL, PSN, and the Internet in general put an end to all of it. And even now, you don't see a lot of demos available on PSN/XBL compared to the 7th generation. I just rely on trusted users from YouTube or only per-oder from a developer/publisher with a good track record. Oh better yet, see a partial playthrough on YouTube, if I am that on the fence about the choice.

 

[FoolKiller]

The problem with demos is that they are a time and money sink and worse, only 2 out of the 9 possible scenarios that result from making a demo result in increased game sales and for one of those it's only marginal. They get more bang for buck by just buying a few extra ads spots or pokishing the game a bit more.

THis isn't speculation. This is observed consumer behaviour. This is why demos went from being the norm to a rarity. If demos actually had a net positive effect on sales, companies would make them.

Now if only they would release good games then the demos may help. As it stands, games are constantly being patched because buggy messes are released, some to the point of being nearly unplayable. I would imagine an unpatched version of many games wouldn't have a positive effect on sales.