Life is Strange (PC, PS3, PS4, One, 360)

[Joust Williams]

I think their study was a bit broken, my assumption would be that bigger budget/visibility games need not have a demo, smaller games would probably benefit.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Well, I know I've read on here more than once that "the demo for game x sucked even though game x did not."
So I guess I could see it hurting sales.
Still dumb though. I never used it, but I thought Sony's "first hour free" was a nice thing for people.

[Joust Williams]

With cinematic games it's a bit more difficult, I think a lot of people play demos and can buy based on whether that story angle/whatever hooks them but a lot of times gameplay in those presentations is sacrificed even if the gameplay as a whole is good. So you can turn people on and off based on different things.

Before, it was just Level 1 bam and then that decision making need not be there (and you can do any level, even)

[GohanX]

I think the real reason behind not doing demos is that the teams are struggling enough just to get the game out the door on time, and as it is a lot of games are buggy unfinished messes at launch. The teams probably don't have time to make a demo too without sacrificing the main product.

[NeoZeedeater]

Not having a demo for a game is like not having a trailer for a movie. Ideally there should always be one available.

[MechDeus]

http://www.pcgamesn.com/jesse-schell...our-game-sales

It was a presentation, not an article. My bad.

Some of the indie developers I've seen on the web have stated that they get better sales by putting up good screenshots and videos than they get by putting up a playable demo. This seems backwards to me, but sales dollars don't lie.

When people play a demo they can fulfill their desire to play a game, especially if it's not an amazing game. Without a demo people can't confirm how it feels until they spend money. There's also the time/money spent creating and testing a demo separate from the full product, so it's ultimately win/win for a developer of any size even though it's not great for the consumer.

[Joust Williams]

I think the real reason behind not doing demos is that the teams are struggling enough just to get the game out the door on time, and as it is a lot of games are buggy unfinished messes at launch. The teams probably don't have time to make a demo too without sacrificing the main product.

This is becoming more and more true, particularly with games being less rigid/linear.

I like to bring this example up, not as a reason, just something, if Crackdown had no demo and no Halo beta no one would have ever bought this game.

[Yoshi]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[Joust Williams]

That's better than any Sega games coming out by a mile

[Yoshi]

Not in a year when Yakuza 5 is coming.