PC Game Playable Demos

[ricleo2]

Since I am so disappointed in my last PC game purchase, I was wondering if free game playable demos increase or decrease sales. Do you think if Farcry 2 came out in a demo first,would it's sales suffer?

 

[shortylickens]

No stats and that doesnt suprise me.

PC game demos have been in decline for a while. In fact, the trend started right about the same time games started to get really overpriced and suck real bad.

I think the publishers have stats on such things but they wont admit to them. If a game just plain stinks or isnt very entertaining then the demo will actually take away sales. But it could be that many folks who really wanted to play the game will probably buy it anyway and are just using the demo as a sneak peak. If this is true (which is what I believe) then demos only have the potential to hurt sales.

Most publishers these days seem to rely on being able to put out crap, make a little profit off all the people who rush to buy it immediately, and then move on to their next project. Thats why we usually only see one or no patches for a game these days. Patches really dont increase the potential for future sales because the folks who really wanted the game probably went ahead and got it even if they heard it had issues.
Only online games get regular patches because they need to keep making money off it every month.

I'm still waiting for a remake of KOTOR 2, because I know that fresh new sales is the only reason for them to fix all the bugs with the engine itself and also redo the story properly. As for just a patch that makes it work well with all modern hardware and OS's, that will never happen.
No money in it.

Getting back to demos: Most of the sales they get come from hype & marketing, not the good word from folks who actually played the game. Once its been out in stores and they sold a bunch of copies they generally arent putting in much more effort.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
No stats and that doesnt suprise me.

PC game demos have been in decline for a while. In fact, the trend started right about the same time games started to get really overpriced and suck real bad.

Same time the publishers started to buy out most of the developers. The downfall of pc gaming in other words? Anyone remember coconut monkey and his cd of demos. oh the good ol days.

 

[L337Llama]

It's too bad demo's have declined. It's nice to be able to try a game you wouldn't normally be interested in. I bought Deus Ex based off the demo I played of it, otherwise I never would have tried it out.

 

[Frodolives]

I used to be very enthused about getting a pc or gaming magazine to check out the latest game demos. I could swear it's been a year or two since the last time I've seen a magazine with disk content that I even cared about.

 

[Skott]

The demo itself has to be really good or it would certainly hurt sales. Many demos are nothing more than beta and that can be bad since beta is often unfinished or buggy programming. I stopped playing demos long ago because they often were of poor quality even when the final game was good. Often its just not a good representation of the game (although often it is) and that would otherwise turn me off of buying the final product. Kinda like bad word of mouth. I'd rather wait till final release and then see what honest constructive reviews are of the game and then make my decision.

 

[tyler811]

Originally posted by: Skott
The demo itself has to be really good or it would certainly hurt sales. Many demos are nothing more than beta and that can be bad since beta is often unfinished or buggy programming. I stopped playing demos long ago because they often were of poor quality even when the final game was good. Often its just not a good representation of the game (although often it is) and that would otherwise turn me off of buying the final product. Kinda like bad word of mouth. I'd rather wait till final release and then see what honest constructive reviews are of the game and then make my decision.

Not so, I never would bought Bioshock without playing the demo. then I was freakin hooked and paid full price off from Steam.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: Oceandevi

Originally posted by: shortylickens
No stats and that doesnt suprise me.

PC game demos have been in decline for a while. In fact, the trend started right about the same time games started to get really overpriced and suck real bad.

Same time the publishers started to buy out most of the developers. The downfall of pc gaming in other words? Anyone remember coconut monkey and his cd of demos. oh the good ol days.

I would point things out for you, but I have no hands.