Why developers no longer release the demos?

Demo versions are gone – but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

[finite]

Really, loads on switch and loads of steam.. what is this site on about

[getbacktogaming]

What ?

On topic; Steam does it best with 2 hour trial/return limit.

[finite]

yeah, demos... no point renaming it to a trial since its clearly a demo when you click on the download link

[XentaJones]

They are called demos...

[getbacktogaming]

@finite you obviously don't know of the Steam refund policy... no need for a trial or demo or whatever else you want to call it when you download the full game and return it within 2 hours if you didn't like it.

[rbfunk7]

Steam does have loads of demos like finite said but I think the refund policy is really an amazing option although I have yet to use it... usually know which games I'll enjoy before purchasing :P

[Princess_Pilfer]

The 2 hour time limit is shit. For a *lot* of the longer games that's not even really out of the tutorial yet so you don't have a good reference for if you like the game or not, and for some shorter games that's the majority of the game.

Also, you can't get that money you spent out of your steam wallet, which means if you want to choose between some Steam Game and a nice pair of shoes if it turns out you don't like the game, well that's too damn bad.

[The_Jackel]

i was just thinking the same and there is always demos/betas. granted not as much as there use to be. but the days of the demo discs are gone. and with todays stuff if you really want to find out alot about the game before you buy always tons of stuff on youtube ect to watch for games now a days

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm thankful for console demos when they drop, there's alot of games I did and didn't buy for that reason alone. Otherwise I have to look at youtube and reviews to figure out if I'd like the game.

[WhiteyFox]

Betas are the new demos.

[FallenAngel1984]

They do release demos, just not as many as before

[shinoff2183]

I just played a demo for Detroit on ps4 last week. You pepole need to stop and research things.

[Palitera]

In case you don't know, demos were common when you were not here.

On topic: it is well known and studied that demos hurt sales.

/topic

[PhantomS42]

They don't hurt sales at all. That was just the narrative publishers were going with because it was convenient enough and still early enough in last gens life cycle to use as a reason to not release demos. That's like saying streaming and let's plays hurt sales...they don't.

[Princess_Pilfer]

No. They hurt sales.

See, the thing is what demos mostly do is let people who are on the fence or who are intereseted play the game before buying it. Inevitably, this means a lot of people find out that it's actually not as interesting as they thought it was, so they don't buy it.

You'd think this could be balanced by convincing people who weren't interested to give it a look, but no. Because if they aren't interested enough to go buy the game, they generally aren't interested enough to play the demo either.

It's consumer friendly and it's what they should do, but it's also a net loss in sales.

[Palitera]

Phantom, despite your illuminati theory, as said, it is studied and proven: demos = less sales.

And yes, Princess Pilfer, demos died in the peak of bullshot videos. Advertisement is king. The moment the player sees the actual product, there's a big chance he will give up.

Much better to let marketing pieces do the talk.

[Lamboomington]

@PhantomS42

Obviously they either hurt sales or don't do anything good for them.

If they were worth it, people would be doing it as much as before. I don't find it hard to believe that demos hurt sales. Playing a demo and watching a stream are not the same. With a demo, it's much more likely that you would believe you've experienced enough.

I know because I feel this way myself. Watching a game online, and its great. I could do it for hours. Play a game on my PC, and very often I just want to stop playing.

Also, watching let's plays on youtube does probably hurt sales of certain types of games.

[Cmv38]

Hmmmm, just downloaded a demo yesterday...

[bluefox755]

Why release a demo when you can charge people for early access?

[Youngindy21]

They don't seem to release that many Demos on Xbox One, but I've played a few demos on PS4. I just played the Detroit:Become Human demo and before that the Nier Automata demo. As for PC, I don't think I've played many demos on that platform recently either.

[Artemidorus]

I enjoy them, that recent demo detroit something, very good demo and conviced me i might purchase.

[sprinterboy]

Recent demos;
Detroit
Wipeout
Zone of the enders
Enigmatis (excellent btw and purchased)
Gravel
Mgs
True fear

[windblowsagain]

There are still demo's, maybe not the same amount as years gone by. But it actually costs devs money to put a demo on a store and sometimes it can hurt the game. Motorstorm 2 had this happen. Was a great game ruined by a poor demo imo.

Betas are more common and probably better since you get to see what the games about and whether or not you'll think it'll improve enough to buy it. Plus you get a decent amount of time with it.

[InKnight7s]

Because nowadays games tend to release with at least 2-5 gb first day patch and not even stable. How would they give us a demo of unstable thing?

[Cobra951]

They release unfinished games for us to do unpaid QA work instead. I think they call it "early access".

[PCgamer98]

Ps4 has demos as well.

[OffRoadKing]

There was just a demo for Detroit Become Human the other day.

[Deeeeznuuuts]

Still get quite a few demos about, it's just with the Internet as a whole a lot more popular than it was back back in the late 90s/2000s people are able to watch gameplay videos to make up their mind, I'd prefer playing a demo any day but that's just how it is

[Einhander1971]

Loads of demos on switch there isn’t that many. Demos unfortunately are pretty rare nowadays. A bad move in my opinion, it gave consumers a taste of the game I know I have bought many a game from playing the demo. Most developers just construct trailers of all the best bits tied in with cutscenes almost like film makers do unfortunately it gives a false impression of the game.

[BlackDoomAx]

They are called open beta now.