For-Pay Demos Coming to Xbox Live?

The Opposable Thumbs blog is talking about a disconcerting new idea being floated by the Official Xbox Magazine. Most people only buy the mag for the demos; they're considering just offering up the exclusive demos on Xbox Live, along with the included trailers and such. The catch? They're going to charge you $2.50 for the privilege. From the article: "We're used to paying for Xbox Live at this point--the feature set is worth the money--but it was sold to us as something of an all-inclusive deal. You're a part of the Xbox network, so you get the demos and the videos and that's part of what you're paying for. Now there is even more of an incentive to offer for-pay demos to people with this new distribution model. In some ways the magazine is already obsolete, and they could conceivably soon be in the business of selling demos." Would you pay money for a downloadable demo?

Comments

Hell No

[Thyamine]

That's my short answer. I'm already paying to be on the network, and if I want to buy the game I'm not going to get a $2.50 discount. Now I don't want to sound like a cheap wad (which maybe I am), but the demo of the game is for me as the consumer to determine if I want to buy a game. Putting an additional barrier between me and your demo certainly isn't going to endear me to buy your game. Not to mention I have purchased games after playing the demo, so I can easily see this stopping me from buying games that I may have bought after trying out the demo (for free).

Re:Hell No

[CRiMSON]

Good idea, the problem is tho (least imho) majority of the games out if they let you play 1/5th the game you'd have pretty much played the game.

I've played numerous demo games, then bought the game to find out the "demo" was the best level of the game and the rest is just horrible.

Re:Hell No

[xenocide2]

sound like a cheap wad (which maybe I am), but the demo of the game is for me as the consumer to determine if I want to buy a game .

There's certainly a cheapwad in the room and I don't think it's you. A demo is advertising for a product. By charging your customers to sell them something else, they've earned the title cheapwad.

And at 2.50, plenty of people are making a profit off of the demo itself. This is essentially an attempt by publishers to cash in on AAA status titles before they've truly hit the shelves, and isn't the first time. The trouble with AAA games is that they take a damn long time to make, meaning they take a long time to go from spending money to making money. Metal Gear Solid 2 had a demo released around six months before the game actually shipped. In an attempt to shorten the time from spending to making money, they packaged the demo with an otherwise weak game, "Zone of Enders". Sold like gangbusters simply on the market demand for that demo. I shouldn't have to mention how upset people were at how different the demo was from the game released six months later. (gameplay-wise, it was fine, but the setting and characters radically changed, which upset many longstanding fans of the series).

I believe, if you want to sell demos, make shorter games and sell them instead. 50 dollars or 2.50, it's the principle that matters here -- everyone knows its not about finding new customers.

I may be mistaken...

[Locriology]

But I thought the point of a demo was to try BEFORE you buy?

Re:I may be mistaken...

[Applekid]

$2.50 protects me from a potentially larger loss by making me disinterested in the game altogether so I save the $60 AND the $2.50.

If I really (and I mean, REALLY) want to take a crack at the game, why not just rent the full thing (as opposed to an incomplete, cherry-picked demo) for a few bucks more?

I have an interesting, insightful response to this

[Rob T Firefly]

And you'll all have the privilege of reading it, just as soon as everyone on Slashdot sends me a dollar each.

No way.

[webrunner]

1. Demos are advertisements. Paying for advertisements is stupid.
2. The biggest exclusive demo they have isn't exclusive if you have a Japanese account set up (Eternal Sonata- if you D/L the Trusty Bell demo it comes out Eternal Sonata when you play it)
3. Exclusive demos existed as a way to get you to buy the magazine, before. Now you're just paying for the demo?

Re:I have an interesting, insightful response to t

[Chouonsoku]

I would love to, but I just ran out of Slashdot Points and I don't want to buy another 800 if I'm only going to use 150.

Rental "demo"

[EMeta]

Or, I could pay twice that (tops) and rent the whole game when it comes out, which I may get my fill of during some weekend. Micro-payments might work ($0.25-$0.50, say), but $2.50 is completely ridiculous.

Wait!

[CaptainPatent]

People buy Xbox Magazine just for the demos?

Probably timed

[MooseMuffin]

They way I would envision this working is that the demos normally included with the magazine will cost $2.50 or whatever for the month associated with that issue's release. When the month is up they would make them free to everyone. Thats the only way I can see them doing this without pissing everyone off.

Re:Amusing

[Jimmy King]

Just because you vote with your dollars doesn't mean you should only vote with your dollars. Explaining exactly what you are unhappy with and why makes it more likely that it will be corrected in a way that you want rather than just made different but still crappy or all out taken away.

Re:Amusing

[91degrees]

People are still quite entitled to be offended at the suggestion that they should pay for a demo. Or for anything else for that matter. XBox magazine come across as being incredibly money-grabbing.

Can we at least get a demo of the demo for free?

[llevity]

I understand that due to rising budget costs in game development, the previous use for using demos as a try-before-you-buy demonstration of the game is now obsolete and outdated.

But if we could get a demo of the demo before buying, it would let us make a well informed judgement.

On a serious note, I have mixed feelings about this. Previously, those demo magazines were a bit more expensive than usual magazines. I understand this to be due to the cost of compiling the content on the discs, producing the discs, etc. That's fine.

But at this point, you're eliminating that step, but still charging? What are you charging for? Does the game company get a cut of that? Or is this a deal where the demo magazine is paying a game company for exclusive use of their demo, then charging for it on the hopes of netting a profit?

On the other hand, there have been a handful of games I've wanted to get a taste of badly enough that I went out and bought an $8-$9 magazine just for that demo. I might have leafed through the magazine, and played a couple of other demos as well, but pretty much, I was after a specific demo. Paying a couple of bucks for one, where I don't have to even leave the house doesn't sound so bad.

Re:Amusing

[spun]

I think paying for advertising is bullshit and I want to convince others of the same. When I don't like something, I do more than not buy it. Depending on how much I don't like it, I may tell a few friends about it if they ask, I may post something online, I may call the BBB, or even write a letter to my representative.

I don't think you really find that amusing. I think it pisses you off. I think maybe you are even a little put out by the idea of anything being free, and relish the commoditization of everything that was once cooperative and social. It all smacks of hippie liberal activism, doesn't it? All these tiny, unimportant people, talking amongst themselves and screwing with the God given right of important people to make a profit, it's horrible, isn't it?

Better Question

[MBraynard]

As a developer, do you want to charge people for your demo or give it to them for free?

The answer is more than likely the latter. I don't expect this to change.

Silly slashdotters - the market usually solves questions in the consumers favor.

In Other News

[Strange Ranger]

The movie industry will begin charging consumers to watch trailers.

Pricing info has yet to be released, but it is expected that trailers made available on the internet will be cheaper and probably different than the Pay-per-View trailers made available for television.

Okay, Or we could do it this way:

[Alzheimers]

Since the world seems so pent up on taking pre-orders for unreleased games, how about applying that "demo fee" towards some pre-order price?

This way, if we like the game we get first dibs AND that payment is already applied to the purchase price. If we don't like it, MS keeps the money and there's no hard feelings.

It makes it feel more like a rent-to-own than a scam, the difference being that there's now some value besides the soul-crushing sadness that comes from the "honor" of paying for advertising.

It is insane to do this

[cliffski]

Totally agreed, yet it constantly amazes me how much big AAA develoeprs do NOT want me to see their product.
They release the demos exclusive to paid-subscription websites which I am not a member of
Then they insist on me 'waiting in a queue' to download it
Then they plaster pop up adverts over multiple pages in order for me to get to my download link.
Then there is the slow 6k download connection for 'non subscribers', mixed in with streaming ads.
Then they try and persuade me to buy it before I've tried it, pester me to 'pre-order' it, and have nag screens I cannot quit.

As a game developer myself, this all seems insane, and naturally I do things the more sensible way. Every one of my games has a free demo, thats always updated to be the very latest code (i patch my server copies of the demo the day I patch the main game). Each one is on a server hosted by me, with an uncapped connection, and a direct .exe link (Download manager friendly), with no adverts, queuing or other bullshit to get between you and my demo.
My demo is my advert, I *WANT* everyone to get the demo as quickly and easily, and as hassle free as possible. I cannot understand the mentality of doing it any other way. Just another reason to stick with the PC and not get an XBox I guess :D

Re:Amusing

[spun]

Yeah, you fed the troll a little bit. But I was more over-reacting than really trolling.

Making money is okay. Sure, I made a big leap of inference there. Something about the attitude pissed me off. It's not just you, I've seen it before and I guess I took it all out on you, sorry. It really feels like some people have a knee jerk reaction towards people complaining about commercial things, like the only legitimate way to express one's dissatisfaction with a commercial product is by not buying it. Complaining about it to others is too much like collectivism, and we can't have that! I don't know if that's what you really think or feel, but it's the impression I get whenever anyone makes those kind of anti-free-speech, shut-up-and-just-don't-buy-it arguments.

So, okay, maybe I over-reacted. I'd love to hear your explanation as to why people complaining about something they don't like is so bad. When people complain, they are providing free information to the producers of the goods being complained about, who would otherwise have no idea exactly why people aren't buying their product. Maybe we should charge for our complaints.

WTF?

[sxeraverx]

OK. Wait. WTF? This absolutely makes me cringe. First of all, it's ridiculous that Microsoft even has the guts to make people pay for XBox Live. You pay for the console, you pay for the game, online play is fucking part of the game! A monthly/yearly fee is just nuts! Next, it's demos that people have to pay for. And this is only for the simple reason that Microsoft saw that gamers would bend over and take it for the online play--demos only logically follow. Instead of charging $600 per console, they nickel-and-dime us to death. They drop the price to $400, and in just four years, ($60 per 12-month subscription), you've paid for more than a PS3 (and you still have crappier hardware). And they've probably lost more money than Sony has (for replacing your console, what? three times now? four?) Now, I'm not a Sony fanboi, but it seems to me like Sony's receiving way too much flak for their price, and Microsoft's not receiving nearly enough for theirs.

Pay For Everything

[SandwhichMaster]

Gamers are gradually getting nickle and dimed for everything. Games like WoW started with a monthly fee AND an upfront fee, AND you have to pay for the expansion. Then there's things like Shadowrun, which would basically be worthless without a Live subscription. Some games are shipping where you have to pay to unlock content that shouldn't be locked in the first place. And soon we'll be expected to pay for demos.

I personally refuse to purchase any of these games, but as long as there are those willing to (of which there are many), we can only expect things to get worse.

Didn't anyone RTF?

[Is0m0rph]

It's not A demo for $2.50. It's OXM's entire disc content for the month for $2.50. Demos, interviews, themes, pics, etc. So if you are just interested in the disc contents and not the magazine you can get it for $2.50 instead of whatever OXM sells for now ($6?).