Whatever Happened To Game Demos?

[undercovergeek]

I'm definitely a lets play guy - I can get everything I need from watching someone play, in the olden days you would probably be sat next to a mate sharing and watching each other play anyway, I don't need that hands on experience to want it

Let's play has won and lost me a fortune, recently lets play got me over the final push for CMBS, invisible inc, endless legends and elite

It's also helped me avoid ai war, sid meiers starships, a variety of 4x space games I now know aren't for me

[Nefaro]

I agree with Let's Plays. They've helped me to make many purchase and non-purchase decisions.

Same.


It's good to see some publishers sending review copies to YouTube LP'ers too.  An increasing trend.

They've obviously realized it as a better representation of a demo, since they can show the full-featured game played by some other gamer (not a dev) who doesn't necessarily know everything about it.  Also... basically free advertising.

[Ian C]

It's good to see some publishers sending review copies to YouTube LP'ers too.  An increasing trend.

They've obviously realized it as a better representation of a demo, since they can show the full-featured game played by some other gamer (not a dev) who doesn't necessarily know everything about it.  Also... basically free advertising.

But isn't a demo a review copy for the buyer? That's my point. The best review is your own.

[Martok]

I miss book store style gaming stores.  Row upon row of shelves with game boxes.   I read the back of each box diligently.  Thumbed through the latest gaming magazine.  And made a blind purchase, which good or bad I played the hell out of the game.

Amen, brother.  It may be utterly foolish, but I do miss those days. 

/old man rant
I find that I can't watch Let's Play vids. The "operator" is either moving too slow over what I'm not interested in or too fast over what I am. They tend to jerk around the screen and babble on about crap I don't care about.
Also, as someone else said, my play time is small so I don't like watching someone else play when I should be. Demo's let you do this.... or used too.

/old man rant off

Let's Play vids are real hit-and-miss for me.  Some work, some don't.  I think much -- if not all -- depends on the person doing the video. 

[Capn Darwin]

There are a couple simple answers to this question (some already covered here too):

1). A demo doesn't translate to more sales. Kinda important for indie Devs to consider.

2). Over the past three decades, we have seen a reversal of big 24/7 companies versus indie Devs. The more niche the genre today, the more likely it was an indie Dev team making the game.

3). The big names in war gaming today are the publishers and distribution companies. Back in the day it was SSI, Microprose, EA, etc.. Now it's Steam and Matrix. The entire model has changed and adapted over the decades.

4). From the Dev side of things, a demo means spending precious time making a new release with functionality turned off or other safeguards turned on to make a viable demo. It can be a bigger challenge if you are not coding a game with that in mind out of the gate. Even if the demo goes out it will always be a broken version of the evolving game code. More bugs and features will be a part of the release that a demo never sees. Unless you again burn critical reasourses updating a demo as well. The final kicker these days is item 1) on this list.

5). Explosion of social media. The vast global reach of the Internet puts you as a gamer, pretty much face to face with the Devs in a way that was impossible back inthe good ole days. I think we forget that those CDs in the game mags had patches for games too. If you were lucky. Back then the only way a bug was squashed is if the company's people found it and fixed it. Today we can chat in near real time, talk to Devs, talk to people from around the world, get insight to events and items those Devs thirty years ago would dream of.

Take the good with the bad and move on. The Demo is dead. Long live the Demo.

[Ian C]

Hi Jim, got your game, love it.

There are a couple simple answers to this question (some already covered here too):

1). A demo doesn't translate to more sales. Kinda important for indie Devs to consider.

I'm not a dev nor do I make money from software (although I was head of marketing for a major music software company) , so as a customer, this point is irrelevant to me and other customers. You are right though, a demo won't translate to more sales, in fact, less, since it could be a deciding factor on some of us deciding not to purchase.  Let me be more accurate - I'm not beefing specifically about indies, but majors.

4). From the Dev side of things, a demo means spending precious time making a new release with functionality turned off or other safeguards turned on to make a viable demo. It can be a bigger challenge if you are not coding a game with that in mind out of the gate. Even if the demo goes out it will always be a broken version of the evolving game code. More bugs and features will be a part of the release that a demo never sees. Unless you again burn critical reasourses updating a demo as well. The final kicker these days is item 1) on this list.

Agreed. I see your point, that investing more in making demos will yield no material returns, but it will win respect for allowing us the chance to sample first and for us to have all options for making an informed decision. Transparency is important.
Customers are not concerned about the behind-the-scenes cost savings, but the front-end of the product. If funds are an issue, charge slightly more for the game, to cover costs.
Honestly, out of over 100 games I own on STEAM, there are perhaps 30 I would not have bought if I'd had chance to play a demo, and that's including reading reviews and watching Youtube before buying them. I always read reviews before purchase but sometimes, a video is not good enough. Especially when you don't know exactly who is reviewing them and whether they are unbiased and independent.

Take the good with the bad and move on.

Thanks for your reply Jim.

[SirAndrewD]

Coconut MONKEY!!!

A most excellent get, sirrah!

"I would gladly hug you...but I have no arms..."

I'm still eagerly awaiting the release of Gravy Trader.