Lack of Demoes Out There...

I've been debating getting a few games, although the Orange Box is probably first in order...

What annoys me about the current state of the industry is the sheer lack of demoes out there; while many games (The Witcher (an RPG, which I probably won't be too into), Crysis, CoD4,WiC), many do not; in particular, I was thinking about Mass Effect (none planned), Assassin's Creed, Gears of War, etc...

Why is this?

 

It's more work to make a demo.

 

It is more work but thanks to no demos I have avoided buying many games

 

They have to toss a bone to get the cash I think. Hopefully games without demos (or console brothers out before the pc version) see lackluster sales and they come to their senses.

 

I've wondered this myself. It seems so long ago when every major game was preceded by a major demo release.

Maybe publishers are afraid a demo will steal launch day thunder? Or maybe they don't see any reason to put one out after release.

 

I wish more demos were released.

 

Assassin Creed apparently refused the demo approach due to the open-ended nature of the game. I personally think most developers don't have the resources or time to produce a good quality demo to draw in potential consumers.

 

The industry was muchmore wild wild west just a few years ago (there is a particularly large difference in the before and after Hot Coffee periods). For a dev team, a demo is an entire full release cycle. That means verifying and finalizing your entire art and sound asset pack, both in terms of quality and legality, which means a significant testing commitment. It also likely means branching your code and script base. In the old days, you could just put your latest internal build out there with some slaped together lockout hacks if you wanted to. These days, its a big undertaking.

That's not to say demos are a bad idea, but you have to realize its not so simple an undertaking.

 

Give me 10 minutes in a fully featured game (what they will release on launch day) and have it cut off right when it gets good...I'll bite and toss out the dough.

 

Until the pirates hack the 10 minute lockout. And 5 people download the 5GB 10 minute demo.

 

It is my personal opinion that many publishers don't release demos because if the game isn't that great the demo will actually keep people from buying the game (and they know when a game isn't up to par but cost alot). They would rather spend the money on commercials and videos (that sometimes don't use actual in-game footage and are mis-leading) and just offer the demos to game critics. Go look at the previews (not reviews) at IGN or Gamespot and see if you can find anything overtly negative in them. I remember 2 years ago I read numerous articles about how awesome Two Worlds was gonna be, that it was an improved Oblivion and sadly I believed the hype. The day the game was released I checked all the sites for reviews but there weren't any up yet so I went out and paid $60 for the game which turned out the be the worst $60 I have ever spent. This has lead me to conclude that reviewers hold off posting their reviews on mediocre games that have received alot of hype for a couple of days. Most hardcore gamers that are interested buy the game within the first couple of days, before the damning reviews are posted. To me this is just the game-industries copy of Hollywood, look at some of the hype companies generate over movies while at the same time not pre-showing them to film critics, so that by the time the bad reviews are posted midday Friday people have already spent their money on the movie.

So why would they release a demo that could potentially hurt them when they can spend the same time and money on commercials/ads/previews that can only increase their sales?

 

I think the GRID demo should be coming out today...

 

I was up till 4 for the grid demo. Then it got released like 2 hours later, then there was a bug which got it recalled. 51 people got it from filefront. IT COUL HAVE BEEN 52!! Well at least it will be up ina few hours.

 

Kewl, I made a thread about it and will keep looking at it.Maybe somebody will spy it first.

 

Having worked in the industry, I can tell you for certain that at least for some companies, it has nothing to do with the quality of the game. As I said, a demo is a significant undertaking. It is a contractual obligation and a milestone deliverable for the developer; this is dictated by the agreement that the publisher makes with the devs. Dev studios have limited resources, and if they aren't getting paid to make a special release (ie a demo), they are not going to devote the resources in time and manpower.

 

Yeah it should be up around 8 BST, 3 Eastern. I'm counting down the seconds.

 

How much is that from now? I`m bad with earth times lol.

 

Earth to ele: Basically 2 hours and 15 min.

 

Lol.I did say I suck at earth times. I think I like moon time better.