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Bug-Filled Demos Are Game Anti-Marketing?

Posted by simoniker on from the definitely-not-going-to-buy-the-game dept.

Thanks to GamersWithJobs for their piece discussing early, bug-filled releases of videogame demos (actual link here, broken website referrals currently in effect.) The author points out that if the downloader "...doesn't like the demo, the player will probably skip the game which will hurt the publisher in the end. That makes me really wonder why some of them appear to insist on early trial versions." He concurs that sometimes PC demos are 'leaked' from magazine cover-discs, but wonders "why such a poor representation of a product would be released anywhere in the first place", and concludes: "I tried to understand the reasons for the release of rather 'flawed' demos, but short term gains such as marketing deals or market timing are usually clearly outweighed by the overall consequences."

2 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Definitely! by Tom7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, I agree. There are so many games out there that I don't have time to waste if it's going to be buggy. Case in point: I couldn't get the demo for XIII to work at my LCDs resolution (note to game developers: just support every reasonable resolution!! It's not hard. At a very minimum, support standard LCD resolutions like 1280x1024, because it will look like shit if it has to up-sample to display on a LCD!), and my mouse was like 100x more sensitive than it should have been, making it impossible to aim at anything. Despite that the demo did look cool, but in general it drove me away more than it attracted me. Rabid fans will love the game when it finally comes out no matter what, and, believe it or not, nobody else is actually sitting around checking the website every day to see if there's any new news. We can wait!

  2. Demos are obsolete by Forkenhoppen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the old days, the game development schedule went as follows:
    - finish game
    - release game
    - rework a demo
    - release demo
    - work on expansion
    - start sequel

    Nowadays, the schedule goes:
    - leaked copy
    - work on game
    - release game
    - warez version available
    - finish game
    - release gold edition
    - start sequel

    The nice things about leaking a beta are:
    - you don't have to actually customize anything
    - it's completely not your fault if it sucks.

    Between the warez version coming out right after release, and the number of leaked betas from E3 or whatever, I think the market for official demos has completely dried up. Especially considering the longer development times for products nowadays, and the fact that most of these companies live hand-to-mouth.