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 Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:38 Post subject: Analyst: don't release demos or gamers might skip your game |
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http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/jesse-schell-releasing-demo-harms-your-game-sales
| Quote: | In an impassioned presentation at DICE 2013, Puzzle Clubhouse CEO and respected analyst Jesse Schell spoke about the importance of getting people to want to try your product. Or not. It turns out that if you’re selling a video game, it would be wise for you to not let people try a demo of it.
Surprised? The numbers back him up.
Producing a graph of Xbox 360 sales figures to illustrate his point, Schell explained how the games that sold the most were games that built expectation in players, that people wanted to try, but that didn’t offer them the opportunity to do so through a demo. “You mean we spent all this money making a demo and getting it out there, and it cut our sales in half? Yes, that’s exactly what happened to you,” he said.
Instead, the way to generate the best sales figures was to tease gamers with a trailer, with something that makes people want to try a game, but then give them no way to do so beyond picking up a copy of the game. “The things with no demo, you’ve gotta buy it if you want to try it,” he continued. The risk you take in making a demo is that people will try your game, but that’s all they’ll ever do. They may not have the desire to then go on and buy the full game.
Naturally, gamers love demos for just this reason: we get to try before we buy and we get to make our minds up about titles that we aren’t sure about. Schell’s point is a very mercenary one and makes perfect business sense, but I for one would be much sadder in a world without demos. |
Demos are the new piracy. Same retarded premise as the "every copy pirated would have been bought otherwise!!!!"
This dude seems to think that if you can't play the demo, you'll hurry to buy the game instead of ya know, like, preferring to buy a game that did have a demo and you tested it and loved it 
Scenario:
Game A releases in a month, you are unsure if it's going to be good, they offer no demo.
Game B releases in a month, you are unsure if it's going to be good, they offer a fuck-awesome demo.
Analyst: I'll hurry and buy Game A  
TWIN PEAKS is "something of a miracle."
"...like nothing else on television."
"a phenomenon."
"A tangled tale of sex, violence, power, junk food..."
"Like Nothing On Earth"
~ WHAT THEY'RE TRYING TO SAY CAN ONLY BE SEEN ~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHTUOgYNRzY
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:41 Post subject: |
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No demo = more piracy.
More piracy = publishers accusing piracy because of poor sales.
Yeah ...
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sausje
Banned
Posts: 17716
Location: Limboland, Netherlands
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:43 Post subject: |
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So in other words, they gotta mislead people with misleading trailers and deliver a shitty endproduct to cash-in quickly... Aaah makes sense now 
Proud member of Frustrated Association of International Losers Failing Against the Gifted and Superior (F.A.I.L.F.A.G.S)
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:45 Post subject: |
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| sausje wrote: | | So in other words, they gotta mislead people with misleading trailers and deliver a shitty endproduct to cash-in quickly... Aaah makes sense now |
My thoughts exactly. Don't show ppl that they don't like your game, so that they can give you money and then realize how shit it is or not their type.
| Lutzifer wrote: | | and yes, mine is only average |
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sausje
Banned
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Location: Limboland, Netherlands
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:48 Post subject: |
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Jesse Schell
| Quote: | Games and Rides:
-Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold
-Toontown Online
-Pirates of the Caribbean Online
-Toy Story Midway Mania
-Pixie Hollow
-Puzzle Clubhouse (2012) |
Ah makes sense now
Proud member of Frustrated Association of International Losers Failing Against the Gifted and Superior (F.A.I.L.F.A.G.S)
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:48 Post subject: |
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Well, if we look at kingdoms of amalur demo fiasco, then it is true.
But its closer to the truth to say dont release demos for crappy games and don't release buggy demos that arent indicative of the final game code.
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sausje
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Location: Limboland, Netherlands
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 17:53 Post subject: |
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Well, there shouldn't be a demo for EVERY game. RPG's especially are hard to summerize the feeling into a single demo...
But for FPS/TPS/Racing/RTS and so on, i don't see the problem with shipping a demo, having 1 level from somewhere in the middle to get players to see if it runs on their rig and if they like it..
Proud member of Frustrated Association of International Losers Failing Against the Gifted and Superior (F.A.I.L.F.A.G.S)
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:02 Post subject: |
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I think this statement is true for a lot of games, only good games profit from demo's, and for every good games 10 bad ones are released.
The thing that pisses me off is that this is a clear exemple how the industry is not interested in happy customers or making a good product, this should be the first concern for any buisness. This is the problem of (mainstream) gaming today. Buisness people taking over nerds that used to run gaming companies.
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sausje
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:05 Post subject: |
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| friketje wrote: | | Buisness people taking over nerds that used to run gaming companies. |
No, the nerds got a taste of wealth now and crave for more.
It's still the same nerds that are running those companies, but they got greedy 
Proud member of Frustrated Association of International Losers Failing Against the Gifted and Superior (F.A.I.L.F.A.G.S)
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Mutantius
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:26 Post subject: |
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who gives a fuck, if no demo, then youtube gameplay, if it's good, then torrent, if not then soup nazi, NEXT!!
Why walk, when you can ride.
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tonizito
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:31 Post subject: |
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Bioshock, God of War 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3, etc
Haven't seen the presentation yet, but maybe his data refers to his own shitty games? 
| boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote: | | i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then |
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:39 Post subject: |
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They achieve with this only more piracy. Especially on PC, since we have had so horrible ports, people are unsure how it will run on their system. So no demo, no buy = ISOdemo.
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:39 Post subject: |
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Are you saying Bioshock, God of War 3 and Uncharted 2 are bad games?
Pre-order bonuses, review embargos, lack of demos, all tools to sell a potentially shitty game before consumers wake up. It's a business tactic, quite simple.
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tonizito
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 18:49 Post subject: |
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| Mister_s wrote: | | Are you saying Bioshock, God of War 3 and Uncharted 2 are bad games? |
Those were games that sold by the bucket load and that were at least good.
And had demos 
| boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote: | | i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then |
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WaldoJ
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:02 Post subject: |
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sausje, all a gamer really needs in a demo is to see how a game controls and how it looks. For RPGS just release a small map / fighting etc. For fps. Release 1 level. For fighting games. Same deal. Gamers want to see how a game plays first rather than how a game is. Most demos show off how a game is rather than how it plays. Which is a problem with most of the games today. They focus on the dudebro cinematic feel rather than gameplay. kids eat that shit up. But a proper demo should showcase the gameplay. Heck. First stage of bayonetta does just that. Shows off the gameplay and how intuitive it is. DMC has great gameplay but because of the idiotic backlash from the stupid virgin fans the game is selling poorly. I mean that's fucking retarded. Game is fucking amazing.
proper demos will sell more games.
Shit demos will sell less.
Author is an idiot.
@toni... good games? wtf? fuck off. Uncharted 2 had horrible controls that took forever to get used to. Very limited and very streamlined in such a way that was... off putting.
@Mister_s a very good business tactic (so many shit games selling hundreds of thousands while good games are not  ). But also the biggest issue is the paid off reviewers who keep giving COD a goty seal of approval. There are no honest reviews any more (regardless where you look. All reviews now are opinion pieces that don't focus on the actual product, just how the reviewer feels about said product and that's wrong). We need more demos now than ever. The entire game industry needs to undergo a massive change same with game journalist. Demos now can only save a product rather than let it go to a slow painful death.
| Sin317 wrote: | | I win, you lose. Or Go fuck yourself. |
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tonizito
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:09 Post subject: |
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| WaldoJ wrote: | | @toni... good games? wtf? fuck off. Uncharted 2 had horrible controls that took forever to get used to. Very limited and very streamlined in such a way that was... off putting. |
Now post that on the derpsole forum 
Every other game that I've mentioned beyond Bioshock I did not play but they seem to be at least good... if you're into the genre that is.
| boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote: | | i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then |
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WaldoJ
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:11 Post subject: |
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It shouldn't matter if you're into that genre or not. Devs should focus on gameplay first. There aren't many games like uncharted or god of war. So that's not an excuse to release a poorly designed game. 
And bioshock only had its aesthetic going for it. gameplay wise it was poop too.
| Sin317 wrote: | | I win, you lose. Or Go fuck yourself. |
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tonizito
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Location: Portugal, the shithole of Europe.
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:13 Post subject: |
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| WaldoJ wrote: | | And bioshock only had its aesthetic going for it. gameplay wise it was poop too. |
Gameplay was pretty good, aside from the weird mouse issues.
| boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote: | | i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then |
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:19 Post subject: |
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Last edited by Yondaime on Mon, 2nd Dec 2024 15:40; edited 1 time in total
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WaldoJ
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:34 Post subject: |
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| tonizito wrote: | | WaldoJ wrote: | | And bioshock only had its aesthetic going for it. gameplay wise it was poop too. |
Gameplay was pretty good, aside from the weird mouse issues. |
Gameplay was ok. In now way did it deserve the franchise it got.
| Sin317 wrote: | | I win, you lose. Or Go fuck yourself. |
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sausje
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 19:35 Post subject: |
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| WaldoJ wrote: | | sausje, all a gamer really needs in a demo is to see how a game controls and how it looks. For RPGS just release a small map / fighting etc. For fps. Release 1 level. For fighting games. Same deal. Gamers want to see how a game plays first rather than how a game is. Most demos show off how a game is rather than how it plays. Which is a problem with most of the games today. They focus on the dudebro cinematic feel rather than gameplay. kids eat that shit up. But a proper demo should showcase the gameplay. Heck. First stage of bayonetta does just that. Shows off the gameplay and how intuitive it is. DMC has great gameplay but because of the idiotic backlash from the stupid virgin fans the game is selling poorly. I mean that's fucking retarded. Game is fucking amazing. |
Ah forgot about that for RPG's, lovely invisible walls
But on the other thing, for me, demo's have always been for how it runs on my rig.
I played virtually every game out there (with exception of sports/sims and racing), for me it has always been a focus to detect flaws, and see why a dev made a certain decision within the game at that point ingame. I rarely play a game for it's gameplay or storyline.
I don't know why i do this, the only thing i can think off, is that when i first started with games, i wanted to become a gamedesigner and not make the mistakes others made before me.
For me, it's always been about how the performance was (and we are talking about ~10-15 years back, when i still bought gamestar and pcgames for their demo discs (and the DLH database updates )), can't say how i would view a demo these days, as we rarely have them anymore.
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tonizito
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 20:02 Post subject: |
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| WaldoJ wrote: | | Gameplay was ok. In now way did it deserve the franchise it got. |
| WaldoJ wrote: | | gameplay wise it was poop too |
| WaldoJ wrote: | | Gameplay was ok. |
| Nextgen WaldoJ post wrote: | | Gameplay was great. |
| NextNextgen WaldoJ post wrote: | OMMFFGGGGG Bioshock gameplay!!!111  |
I'll wrestle it out of you! 
| boundle (thoughts on cracking AITD) wrote: | | i guess thouth if without a legit key the installation was rolling back we are all fucking then |
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 20:05 Post subject: |
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ixigia
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 20:16 Post subject: |
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Hah! These folks' castles of sand suddenly melt away in presence of the real gamers, those who never buy anything unless they try, and often even finish the ISOdemos. It's called acquiring complete freedom.
Because official demos are either as rare as unicorns or just completely misleading, and full-priced games rarely are worth the purchase these days.
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| Posted: Mon, 11th Feb 2013 20:17 Post subject: |
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Bring out quality games, people will buy them regardless of them having demos or not.
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briangw
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