Analyst – Releasing demos can cut game sales by half
“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.” – Schell games CEO and industry analyst Jesse Schell
It all comes down to the quality of the demo and the game. A demo of a good game can only help show off a good game. A bad demo of a good game could scare away potential buyers. A demo of a bad game is still a demo of a bad game.. Have you ever been affected by a demo?
February 11, 2013
More often than not, I usually know if I am going to buy a game before I play the demo (Resident Evil Revelations, Fire Emblem). However, there have been times when I played a demo and thought “Wow, that was much better than I expected” and I end up buying the game (The Cave). Other than that, Demos just confirm that the game I didn’t want in the first place are not for me (Sonic Racing). In my my experience with demos since the original Playstation, I can only think of one game that I was planning on buying and then said no thanks after the demo (Blasto…sorry Phil Hartman).
February 11, 2013
@HakuPSO For what it’s worth, Sonic racint Transformed is one of the best games on the Wii U. The demo in that case is a bad example of it. If you like Mario Kart, it’s the best Mario Kart in possibly a decade.
February 11, 2013
@XCWarrior1 I didn’t mean to imply that Sonic Racing was a particularly bad game, only that I wasn’t planning on buying the game in the first place and the demo didn’t change my mind. I’m sure it’s a fine kart racer.
February 11, 2013
Can’t say a demo has ever stopped me from buying a game. They have a couple of times helped me decide to buy one. Usually a demo will give me an idea, but I’ll wait for 4 or 5 reviews to see what people think of a game before I buy, besides obvious ones.
I think this is just a guy who either helps make bad games or has no clue about the industry. That’s typical of most video game analysts.
February 11, 2013
Let’s see how this turns out for Rayman Legends…
February 12, 2013
The only demo I’ve ever played is for Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. It looked interesting so I tried it and absolutely loved it. It took me a while to get around to actually buying the game, but I bought it new and it is one of my favorite games ever. I’m not sure I would have given it a shot if I hadn’t played and liked the demo.