Kevin
The Dude
What happened to the good old-fashioned game demo?
Publishers should be giving gamers the chance to play a game before they buy it
Publishers should be giving gamers the chance to play a game before they buy it
Bring back game demos!
- Thread starter Kevin
- Start date
StaggerLee
New member
Ja, unfortunately this business model is far more appealing to share-holders.
I remember playing a demo of the first Painkiller off of a PC Format (God rest their soul) disc. I had never considered playing FPSs (except Quake) before then. I went out and bought the game the next day. Although that game has one of the worst plots in the history of games, it probably has some of the most fun gameplay ever put into ones and zeros. I only had that experience because I played the demo.
The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
I wonder how many of us would have cancelled our Watch Dogs Pre Order if we were able to play a demo of the game before release..I think quite a few people...in fact I would say about 40% of us would have.
Publishers know this, so they won't ever bother making demo's available before a game launches.
It would force them to fix issues before launch...We all know they can't do that.
But its thanx to certain gamers that don't care, Example Wyzak with his whole "What game doesn't launch with issues" rubbish..lol
Publishers know this, so they won't ever bother making demo's available before a game launches.
It would force them to fix issues before launch...We all know they can't do that.
But its thanx to certain gamers that don't care, Example Wyzak with his whole "What game doesn't launch with issues" rubbish..lol
DieGrootHammer
Daddy TK
It's all about risk management. In today's competitive environment, a game company seldom has the luxury of creating a demo. It comes down to this I must assume:
First most AAA titles these days require considerable capital and time investment, but deadlines and release dates are strictly enforced to ensure cash flow can be generated by the company. Today games are also much more complex than games of 10 years ago. This causes many companies to push their development windows up to the very last minute. It takes some seriously skillful project management to keep to the deadlines set by the company, and many developers go over this, as so games are delayed until a further date. With this in mind, games these days do not have the same time to spend on polish as they used to, hence to whole host of games releasing buggy or with day 1 patches.
So if a company now has to release a demo out to the world, they run the risk of their game coming off as buggy, lacking features and more. It's a big financial risk they run, as the demo they release will directly have an impact on the number of game copies sold at launch, and we all saw in a previous article, that the launch period is the most critical for game dev companies.
To manage this risk better, companies will rather turn to their marketing and PR departments to assist in creating awareness and hype for their game. This is why we'll see so many "game play" videos of a game before it gets released. This form of game showcasing is much lower risk, as the developer has full control over what is shown, how polished it looks and comes across. I would assume that it is also less expensive route to go, than taking valuable development time to polish a demo section enough for release.
Obviously there are some exception to this, as I’m sure there are many recent games that have had successful releases and still were able to have demos. But these are few and far between. Most companies will rather manage the risk and rather go with video showcases. Even E3 and other shows are highly staged and prerendered exhibitions of how the game can look, rather than what it actually is.
It’s all in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Without it, many companies will go under, and many hard-working, talented developers will be out of work.
It is the right way to approach game release? That’s a debate for another thread I feel. All I know is that many companies exploits this to their advantage without any though of the consumer of their products.
First most AAA titles these days require considerable capital and time investment, but deadlines and release dates are strictly enforced to ensure cash flow can be generated by the company. Today games are also much more complex than games of 10 years ago. This causes many companies to push their development windows up to the very last minute. It takes some seriously skillful project management to keep to the deadlines set by the company, and many developers go over this, as so games are delayed until a further date. With this in mind, games these days do not have the same time to spend on polish as they used to, hence to whole host of games releasing buggy or with day 1 patches.
So if a company now has to release a demo out to the world, they run the risk of their game coming off as buggy, lacking features and more. It's a big financial risk they run, as the demo they release will directly have an impact on the number of game copies sold at launch, and we all saw in a previous article, that the launch period is the most critical for game dev companies.
To manage this risk better, companies will rather turn to their marketing and PR departments to assist in creating awareness and hype for their game. This is why we'll see so many "game play" videos of a game before it gets released. This form of game showcasing is much lower risk, as the developer has full control over what is shown, how polished it looks and comes across. I would assume that it is also less expensive route to go, than taking valuable development time to polish a demo section enough for release.
Obviously there are some exception to this, as I’m sure there are many recent games that have had successful releases and still were able to have demos. But these are few and far between. Most companies will rather manage the risk and rather go with video showcases. Even E3 and other shows are highly staged and prerendered exhibitions of how the game can look, rather than what it actually is.
It’s all in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Without it, many companies will go under, and many hard-working, talented developers will be out of work.
It is the right way to approach game release? That’s a debate for another thread I feel. All I know is that many companies exploits this to their advantage without any though of the consumer of their products.
Ser_Bunnylot
New member
coughpiratebaycough
