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EA To Charge For Game Demos

Posted by Soulskill on from the gotta-stay-ahead-of-activision-as-the-most-evil-game-corp dept.

Kohato brings word of a new Electronic Arts marketing strategy that aims to start monetizing game demos. According to industry analyst Michael Patcher after an EA investor visit, the publisher will start selling "premium downloadable content" prior to a game's release for $10-$15 that is essentially a longer-than-usual demo. Patcher said, "I think that the plan is to release PDLC at $15 that has 3-4 hours of gameplay, so [it has] a very high perceived value, then [EA will] take the feedback from the community (press and players) to tweak the follow-on full game that will be released at a normal packaged price point." He also made reference to a comment from EA's CEO John Riccitiello that "the line between packaged product sales and digital revenues would soon begin to blur."

20 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. $15 dollars for 4 hours of gameplay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds better than $50 for 4 hours of gameplay. I'm looking at you, most games.

    1. Re:$15 dollars for 4 hours of gameplay? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sounds to me like they want to get beta testers and QA to pay them instead of the other way around. This is just as ridiculous as paying your boss for allowing you to work.

  2. Paid Beta Program? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Am I reading this wrong, or is EA essentially trying to establish a paid beta program?

    1. Re:Paid Beta Program? by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If it's as simple as that, then it seems ok. I fear, however, that it will be more like they'll charge you $15 for the demo, then $60 for the full game, then an additional $40 for all the DLC-- and if you were to add all of it together, you'd get the same amount of content that would have been in a $50 game 10 years ago.

      Maybe it's just paranoia, but I feel like the days of businesses being innovative to find a way to provide more to their customers is over. Now all the innovation is aimed at getting customers to pay more for less.

    2. Re:Paid Beta Program? by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      .... where they're redefining what a demo means. In my world - and everyone's world that I can think of - a demo is a short version of a full game that gives you an idea of controls, atmosphere, design and game type (with notable exception Brutal Legend, that completely failed to indicate its RTS nature). 4 hours of a game - let's say, RE5 - is about 1, maybe 2 levels in a full game. So I get to pay $10 for a game that completely fails to show me the full range of capabilities of a character, a satisfying story arc, and which might not even be finished??

      Fuck you, EA. I'm not going to be suckered into paying for what sounds suspiciously like a beta program.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  3. Shareware by dunezone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the publisher will start selling "premium downloadable content" prior to a game's release for $10-$15 that is essentially a longer-than-usual demo

    So were going back to shareware?

    1. Re:Shareware by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 4, Informative

      How is this shareware? Shareware was giving away free trial versions of a software that you then had to pay to upgrade to the full version. This is selling people a beta version of a game to demo.

    2. Re:Shareware by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, we bought it for $5-$10 on a floppy in a retail establishment. We also wore an onion on our belt, as was the style at the time.

  4. EA, you've missed the point by Werthless5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The point of a demo is to convince people to purchase your game. If you force people to also purchase the demo, then they'll likely not bother purchasing anything.

    The only effect this can have is a decrease in revenue for EA followed by some long-winded rants about "piracy is decreasing our revenue" when in actuality it's EA releasing poor-quality games and making boneheaded decisions like this one that are causing them to lose revenue.

    1. Re:EA, you've missed the point by pauls2272 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >The point of a demo is to convince people to purchase your game

      But this isn't a Demo. They are already milking the back end by selling DLC "addons" to the base product that were probably developed in tandem with the base product. Now they want to sell PDLC "addons" to the product by releasing bits of it early. I'd bet the programmers/developers won't use much if any feedback from the PDLC people as they will be too busy trying to get the base product out the door as well as the DLC content that is to be sold immediately after the base product.

      So, in some respects, it is ingenious. Prior to the DLC stuff, you had:

      "Base product" if that sold well then a lot of time later "expansion to base product"

      Now the business model is:

      "PDLC content reaps in big bucks", "base product (which gets smaller and smaller)" ,"DLC content "addons" reaps in more bucks"

      Next they will start charging you for character generation, Saves, multiplayer, etc...

  5. Dammit, EA by Pojut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You guys were doing so good...really making a turn around. You were starting to release big games without DRM (Dragon Age), You were showing that aquiring a company no longer meant dictating every facet of development (again, Dragon Age is a good example), you were gaining some great IP (Dead Space)...and then you go and do this shit.

    I was trying, EA. I really was. But this is making it very hard for me. If you take the money paid for these extended demos off the price of the full game, then ok...I'm behind you 100%. BUT. If it's just "pay for demo, pay full price for the full game"? I'm sorry EA...but I would be forced to abandon you.

    WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU???

    --
    Living With a Nerd
  6. Hello, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue! by psoriac · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Looks like EA saw how successful Sony's GT-5 Prologue was and decided that this is a viable business model for eagerly anticipated AAA titles.

    If the demo purchase price could be applied as a credit on the final release I would have no problem with this, but somehow I think the chances of this being the case are pretty close to 0%.

    --
    I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
  7. Slippery slope to the MMO 'pay to play' model... by MarcoAtWork · · Score: 4, Interesting

    first it was some small cosmetic DLC (anybody remembers the huge hoopla about the 'horse armor' in Oblivion?) and lately it's starting to become a 'pay if you want the full experience' with 0-day DLC, with assets sometimes already present on the game media.

    It's pretty obvious that the games industry is envying the MMO business model where customers pay as long as they play (and wish they had done so a lot earlier) and this 'paid beta access' program seems just like another step in that direction.

    Nowadays not being internet connected on your gaming PC is pretty much unheard of (and with more and more games with net-based DRM impossible), the only people who would regularly play disconnected would probably be laptop users, but I guess they are not big enough of a market to stop this kind of monetization.

    --
    -- the cake is a lie
  8. They already do it, pretty much by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Consider Battlefield: Bad Company 2. A beta was available on Steam more than a month before game release, but you could only access it by pre-purchasing the game. There is a small step from that to splitting the cost between beta content, and full game content.

  9. The demo of the demo? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't worry, EA has already thought this out.

    Now you can download the demo of the demo. Just $4.99!

    The ad for the demo of the demo. Just $1.99!

    The teaser for the ad for the demo of the demo. Just $0.99!

    Post fan posts discussing a potential new teaser for the ad for the demo of the demo. Just $0.10 a post!

    You know you want it.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  10. Re:It's the Polyphony Digital model! by mathx314 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Same with Torchlight. The only way it's a demo is that they're using the same engine and some of the same assets to build an MMO. The game itself is a complete (and incredibly fun) Diablo clone.

  11. Re:It's the Polyphony Digital model! by Normal+Dan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bah! I've got a marketing model that can blow both of these out of the water. I'm creating the most awesomest game in the whole wide world. It's name you ask? Well, that'll cost you $1.50. Would you like to hear more about it? That'll cost you $7.25. Wanna see the trailer?

    --
    A unique way to learn a language: http://languageloom.com
  12. Good luck! by Godji · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I believe I speak for many gamers when I say that I wouldn't play most of their finished games for free, so good luck trying to sell me a demo.

  13. Re:It's the Polyphony Digital model! by ooshna · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes but since he is not EA you don't have to write it out in the blood of your firstborn blue or black pen is fine.

  14. Sensationalist Buillshit by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Informative

    What the headline says:

    "EA To Charge For Game Demos"

    What the article says:

    - None of the proposals call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)