Why do most games not have Demos these days?

[BabyTyrant]

It seems like 80-90% of games dont have Demos these days, at least on PSN/NSO, and I'm guessing XBL is these same, and to me it's even more important than ever before to actually try out a game to see not only if you like it

But also you want to be sure its actually playable, then you have a full picture on if you actually want to play it

Sure you can read up about a game, check reviews, and watch "Let's Plays"; but still 1st hand experience is King

Thankfully sometimes they have Free Play Weekends for specific games, or months after a game is released they may add a Demo if they feel like it, but still kinda sucks that most you have to Rent or Buy (and your only rental option left is GameFly, people ruined RedBox Game Rentals by stealing games)

 

[MakABDL]

Well the issue with that is that most games now a days are heavy story oriented so some companies don't want their story spoiled so they don't release a demo before hand to avoid breaking a big part of their story

 

[WanderingToddler]

Also a lot of games are open world with small story lines, quests. It is difficult to release a demo without restarting all of the code. You can put limits with a released version of code, but it is not unfeasible that they could be removed unlocking the whole game.

 

[BabyTyrant]

All they would really have to do is make a Demo that only let's you play a little bit of the game to get a "Taste of the action" and see if you might want to buy the full thing or if you feel like you wont enjoy it and can skip it entirely

If it's a really good game they have nothing to hide by releasing a small demo (maybe 2 or 3 hours worth of the game at the most, after that you would have to buy the full thing)

 

[Chimera]

I think demos are dead because they know people will buy the games anyway. Gamers are very complacent consumers so the game industry can do whatever they want with them. People will bitch and complain all they want, but a majority of them will still buy the game and that's all that matters to them. Pirating the games these days is like the new demo. If I'm not sure about a game, I'll torrent it and if I like it, I will buy it legitimately. If I don't, it gets deleted and I go on with my life.

If only more digital storefronts were like steam where they give you up to 14 days or 2 hours of gameplay, whichever comes first, to try a game out and if you don't like it, you can return it and get a refund. Unlike Playstation store where they give you up to 14 days to return a digital product, but if you start downloading or streaming the purchased content, you will no longer be eligible for a refund unless you can prove the content is faulty.

 

[BabyTyrant]

I think demos are dead because they know people will buy the games anyway. Gamers are very complacent consumers so the game industry can do whatever they want with them. People will bitch and complain all they want, but a majority of them will still buy the game and that's all that matters to them. Pirating the games these days is like the new demo. If I'm not sure about a game, I'll torrent it and if I like it, I will buy it legitimately. If I don't, it gets deleted and I go on with my life.

If only more digital storefronts were like steam where they give you up to 14 days or 2 hours of gameplay, whichever comes first, to try a game out and if you don't like it, you can return it and get a refund. Unlike Playstation store where they give you up to 14 days to return a digital product, but if you start downloading or streaming the purchased content, you will no longer be eligible for a refund unless you can prove the content is faulty.

Sadly I think you are right that "people will bitch and complain, but still buy the game"

I mean people still bought FO76 and people still bought Pokemon Sword and Shield

I think this whole thing sends out 2 conflicting messages

1. You hate the game

2. You dont hate it enough that you still bought it

As long as the game sells, the Developers and Publishers have no reason to do better; if sales disappoint they will feel pressured to do better to get the sales they want/need

 

[KitsuneFox]

"Let's Play" YouTube channels ?

 

[BabyTyrant]

"Let's Play" YouTube channels ?

That can give you an idea of what the game may be like, but still actually playing it gives you the best idea (like I said in the original post)

Thank goodness some games eventually do Demos and there are "Free Play Weekends" (limited Time Demos you can play on certain weekens for certain games)

 

[Chimera]

Sadly I think you are right that "people will bitch and complain, but still buy the game"

I mean people still bought FO76 and people still bought Pokemon Sword and Shield

I think this whole thing sends out 2 conflicting messages

1. You hate the game

2. You dont hate it enough that you still bought it

As long as the game sells, the Developers and Publishers have no reason to do better; if sales disappoint they will feel pressured to do better to get the sales they want/need

Yep, that's exactly what I mean, very conflicting messages. So long as everyone buys their games, they will never change a thing.

 

[BirdCat]

Sadly I think you are right that "people will bitch and complain, but still buy the game"

I mean people still bought FO76 and people still bought Pokemon Sword and Shield

I think this whole thing sends out 2 conflicting messages

1. You hate the game

2. You dont hate it enough that you still bought it

As long as the game sells, the Developers and Publishers have no reason to do better; if sales disappoint they will feel pressured to do better to get the sales they want/need

Speak for yourself. I know I, for one, don't buy things if they're terrible or buggy and if I buy it because everything makes it look fine and then find out that it's terrible and buggy I am getting my money back for it. If the person I bought it from refuses I'll just keep going up the ladder to the next higher authority until somebody agrees to give me my refund. I don't have much money so I can't afford to waste it but I have plenty of time to kill. Many of the people I've discussed the whole video games issue with have similarly decided not to buy games that are a complete mess, at least not until the games actually get finished.

 

[BabyTyrant]

Speak for yourself. I know I, for one, don't buy things if they're terrible or buggy and if I buy it because everything makes it look fine and then find out that it's terrible and buggy I am getting my money back for it. If the person I bought it from refuses I'll just keep going up the ladder to the next higher authority until somebody agrees to give me my refund. I don't have much money so I can't afford to waste it but I have plenty of time to kill. Many of the people I've discussed the whole video games issue with have similarly decided not to buy games that are a complete mess, at least not until the games actually get finished.

But theres still plenty of people buying Glitchy games that need to be patched to work as they should, or need you to buy DLC to make them feel complete

They literally relied on hype to sell FO76 and still made plenty of sales, even amidst all the technical issues it has/had (idk if they are fixed yet)

 

[Chimera]

But theres still plenty of people buying Glitchy games that need to be patched to work as they should, or need you to buy DLC to make them feel complete

They literally relied on hype to sell FO76 and still made plenty of sales, even amidst all the technical issues it has/had (idk if they are fixed yet)

It's kind of sad to see how far the standards have dropped. Let me remind everyone that pubg and fornite were at the peak of their popularity when they were early access games that still needed lots of development. I just can't believe people are so ok with playing unpolished games, just because the developers promise to "fix it later" while releasing a roadmap that they may or may not follow. Minecraft was a rare exception when it first came out, because it was an indie game. Now, all AAA titles release half baked and millions of people still buy it.

 

[BabyTyrant]

It's kind of sad to see how far the standards have dropped. Let me remind everyone that pubg and fornite were at the peak of their popularity when they were early access games that still needed lots of development. I just can't believe people are so ok with playing unpolished games, just because the developers promise to "fix it later" while releasing a roadmap that they may or may not follow. Minecraft was a rare exception when it first came out, because it was an indie game. Now, all AAA titles release half baked and millions of people still buy it.

Yeah it is very sad that you have to wait and see if a game you HOPE is going to be good actually is good and hopefully has most of what you expect it to have

otherwise all you can really do is refuse to buy the game and hope things get better and hope enough other people join in to make the companies care, but as long as Millions of people buy these Glitchy, often Times incomplete games it will never happen.