It is a luxury according to Crytek:
Link: http://www.megagames.com/news/crytek-ceo-against-free-game-demos
Link: http://www.megagames.com/news/crytek-ceo-against-free-game-demos
Game demos...a luxury?!
- Thread starter Serge 13
- Start date
Yeah, hello, demos are just that - demonstrations of your product. They're supposed to be free and widely available, to incite as many customers as possible to purchase what you're peddling.
Is this guy retarded? The hell trailers are, then? Jesus christ on a pogo stick. Fuck him and fuck his premium demos for ten bucks.
Is this guy retarded? The hell trailers are, then? Jesus christ on a pogo stick. Fuck him and fuck his premium demos for ten bucks.
Dumb businessman is dumb.
Demos are just a way of advertising your product. Since when is advertising a fucking luxury to the customer ?
The analogy with other mediums is also dumb, he got it totally wrong : you have the equivalent of a demo on every other support = an excerpt of the experience provided by said media.
Before buying a book, you can read it in a library (entirely if it pleases you).
Before buying a film, you can see excerpts of it, what we call a trailer.
Exact same thing for a game : before buying it, you can expect to have an excerpt of the experience it provides : how it plays.
Demos are just a way of advertising your product. Since when is advertising a fucking luxury to the customer ?
The analogy with other mediums is also dumb, he got it totally wrong : you have the equivalent of a demo on every other support = an excerpt of the experience provided by said media.
Before buying a book, you can read it in a library (entirely if it pleases you).
Before buying a film, you can see excerpts of it, what we call a trailer.
Exact same thing for a game : before buying it, you can expect to have an excerpt of the experience it provides : how it plays.
When the demo reveals to you the poor quality of the product, so that you can refrain from purchasing it.
Demos are expensive to make. So in that way publishers always have to do a cost vs return analysis to see it's worthwhile to make one. Just like they have to do with trailers and giving out interviews and hosting websites/forums.
Professor Danger!
Where'd That 6th Toe Come From?
When are they going to start charging for free radio, shitty though it may be?
WEll, take the Just Cause 2 demo as an example. I lot of players went and bought the game because of the fun they had with the demo. Why can't these retards understand such things?
Autoduel76
Look, Ma! Two Heads!
Obviously as a consumer I don't want to see pay game demos become common. However, it really isn't just as simple as it being good business sense to make them free.
It seems like it from our standpoint, as gamers, but the game industry is a different beast. I would say its going to be different for different companies and different types of games. They have to figure their own cost benefits from creating a demo, in terms of development costs, and what kind of benefit (or harm) releasing a demo is going to do for them.
One problem with games, is that casual and part time gamers make up the vast majority of consumers. It might not be a problem for a very simple demo (say, one combat in an RPG or something), however, many demos, right now have been a fairly large chunk of game. Many casual gamers might be perfectly content simply playing the demo and never feeling the need to buy the full game. Some that may have otherwise bought the full game, if they didn't have the demo to play with.
In fact, I know and have known some people like that throughout the years. I remember when I was back in school a roomate had a demo of one of the early Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, that was basically the regular game, except just one skate park. Without us being all that into the series we played that demo for a few weeks, enjoyed it, and had competetions to see how many points we could get, but we never felt the need to buy the full game. The full game was just more of the same, just with additional levels/skaters and such.
If I was a fan of the series, the demo would have probably left me wanting more, and wanting to play those other levels. But not being a fan, the demo itself was fun enough for me. And that's kind of the catch 22 with making some demos. The fans are probably going to buy the full game anyway. You don't need to give them a demo to get their money. And some of the casual crowd will be content to just play the demo. You're trying to capture that very small percentage of people that wouldn't have otherwise bought the game without a demo.
An impossible number to show for sure, but most likely not that large.
It seems like it from our standpoint, as gamers, but the game industry is a different beast. I would say its going to be different for different companies and different types of games. They have to figure their own cost benefits from creating a demo, in terms of development costs, and what kind of benefit (or harm) releasing a demo is going to do for them.
One problem with games, is that casual and part time gamers make up the vast majority of consumers. It might not be a problem for a very simple demo (say, one combat in an RPG or something), however, many demos, right now have been a fairly large chunk of game. Many casual gamers might be perfectly content simply playing the demo and never feeling the need to buy the full game. Some that may have otherwise bought the full game, if they didn't have the demo to play with.
In fact, I know and have known some people like that throughout the years. I remember when I was back in school a roomate had a demo of one of the early Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, that was basically the regular game, except just one skate park. Without us being all that into the series we played that demo for a few weeks, enjoyed it, and had competetions to see how many points we could get, but we never felt the need to buy the full game. The full game was just more of the same, just with additional levels/skaters and such.
If I was a fan of the series, the demo would have probably left me wanting more, and wanting to play those other levels. But not being a fan, the demo itself was fun enough for me. And that's kind of the catch 22 with making some demos. The fans are probably going to buy the full game anyway. You don't need to give them a demo to get their money. And some of the casual crowd will be content to just play the demo. You're trying to capture that very small percentage of people that wouldn't have otherwise bought the game without a demo.
An impossible number to show for sure, but most likely not that large.
cratchety ol joe
Mildly Dipped
this is just silly, I for one have purchased many games after having played a demo, I realise that modern games have much higher production costs, but a demo is more often than not an excerpt from the game (CoD4 for example, I played that demo over and over till I got a copy it.) and as such really doesn't raise production cost at all!
it'll be a sad day if the gaming industry decides this is a good way forward.
it'll be a sad day if the gaming industry decides this is a good way forward.
Professor Danger!
Where'd That 6th Toe Come From?
So will this eventually lead to complaints and possibly lawsuits when demos are pirated?
UniversalWolf
eaten by a grue.
Solution: load up your "free" demo with advertising. Fill it up with billboards (or whatever) for Coca-cola, Nike, and Intel.
Wouldn't bother me at all.
Wouldn't bother me at all.
coliphorbs
Look, Ma! Two Heads!
Sadly, I can see that happening. They will be marketed as add-ons, of course.Black said:
you guys know nothing ... I ve seen the future ... apocalypse of gaming. At one point you will be charged fees for ... playing online ... >_>
Khan FurSainty
Look, Ma! Two Heads!
Crni Vuk said:
People pay to play online now. I am waiting for the time when you have to pay a monthly fee for the games you have bought. The more you play them, the less money you have to pay.