To Demo or Not To Demo

^To Demo or Not To Demo^

Do you think it is a good Idea for an already successful Franchise or Publisher to take the chance and release a pre release demo? I ask this because many games that wereextremly hyped on line andhad multiple TV Spotshave had pre release or same day as release demos and not done very well on the market. Good Idea or Bad Idea?

definatly..

IMO, (almost) every game should have a demo, even just short ones. with the 360's demo feature, and so many great games coming.. i doubt i'll be buying many games that don't have a demo.

*and what hyped games are you speaking of when you say the demo hurt their sales?

I think every game should get a demo; Bioshock is a good example of this. It was already being hyped a ton, but then the demo came out and many, many people said "I wasn't thinking about getting it...but the demo was AMAZING! I'm definitely gettin' it now." JML897

I think every game should get a demo; Bioshock is a good example of this. It was already being hyped a ton, but then the demo came out and many, many people said "I wasn't thinking about getting it...but the demo was AMAZING! I'm definitely gettin' it now." JML897

Yes, there should definitely be demos. Except in some rare cases, most of which are with sequels or games from developers I like where I know about what I'm getting, I prefer to not blind buy. In the case of Bioshock, the demo got me more excited about the game than I had been previously.

I think every game should get a demo; Bioshock is a good example of this. It was already being hyped a ton, but then the demo came out and many, many people said "I wasn't thinking about getting it...but the demo was AMAZING! I'm definitely gettin' it now." JML897

that was just like me with Bioshock, and hes right, there should be demos, they are free to DL so ur not tempted to spend money on renting it which u might beat it by just renting it so that can hurt the game's sales too

I think DL demos was a great idea. It let's you get a taste of the game which in turn might make you want the whole thing. Also if your afraid to have a demo to your game then it's not very good is it. If you have faith in the quality and effort you put into the game then you'll want everyone to demo it so they can make it official that they're gonna go and pick up your game.

I think every game should get a demo; Bioshock is a good example of this. It was already being hyped a ton, but then the demo came out and many, many people said "I wasn't thinking about getting it...but the demo was AMAZING! I'm definitely gettin' it now." JML897

Completely agree.

I think, wherever possible, publishers should release a demo to showcase the game and gameplay. This will usually win over any on-the-fence people and potentially get them new fans who hadn't even thought about a particular game. Now, I know that story driven RPGs are harder to make demos for. It's hard to show the story and without that, you dont' have a game. So this one is a little tough.