Not Offering A Demo Better For Indie Games?

Thanks to DIYGames for their article showing surprising results from an independent game developer who offer games for sale directly on their website. According to the piece, "Every other visitor to the website is given an alternative page for each game that does not give them the option to download a demo of the game. The idea is to see how sales are affected by not giving users a free demo." So, while the article points out that "the results are less than scientific", 43.3% of total dollar volume came from 'demo available page', and 56.7% of the dollar volume from the 'no demo available page'. The developer concluded by working out that "not offering a demo increased sales revenue by roughly 31%." Does not offering a demo increase the sales of a game, sometimes, or is this just crazy talk?

Comments

Honestly now...

[cold wolf]

try before you buy. this will determine how many morons there are. those who buy without playing just waste money, since they obviously dont give a shit about what they spend it on. i'm interested in the results. how many gamers are stupid? we shall see...

Old news...

[evilquaker]

I'm sure the RIAA has known this for years...