So I’ve been pottering around the steam store taking a look at a few of these demos; I’ve even downloaded a few.
One of them was a demo for a game I’ve had wishlisted for a solid year now. Anyway, to cut the story short; I played the demo and absolutely hated it.
Which brings me to my question; how do you feel about demos in 2024. Do they still serve a purpose, or are they a relic of a bygone time?
I kinda feel like all the benefit goes to the consumer, which is great…as a consumer but I’m not sure how Devs are getting much out of it, short of a very small bump in their games interest levels…maybe?
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Your concern here is exactly why demos don’t typically exist anymore. Apparently they make more money from marketing hype than roping anyone in from demos, and demos have a tendency to turn just as many people off as they lure in. Besides that, it can be difficult to create a slice of a game which represents the whole, especially for games with any amount of complexity. If you put a player too close to the opening of the game it may not have all the cool powers and toys available to make it interesting, but if you put them in a later scene it may be overwhelming to play since they didn’t get to learn how to play step by step. A lot of times it costs development time and money to make the demo too, so there’s an investment there that needs to see a return. When players are willing to pay for early access and essentially do the bug testing for you why would you make a free demo and lose customers?
Steam next fest is a little different though, since it largely is a marketing festival, highlighting many games which likely dont have much of an advertising budget. In this way it serves a purpose by getting people talking about games they otherwise would have passed by, so I think in this specific situation the demos are very worthwhile for the developers putting them out. I personally like it too, because sometimes looking at the landscape of indies it gets a little muddy trying to determine what’s going to be fun or not just by looking at it. I will always take a chance for a free trial of something interesting to me, and if I find something I like I will tell my friends to give it a shot. It would be interesting to see how effective the festivals are, but considering they keep doing it they must be seeing an overall positive impact on sales.
Very well said and 100% true. Demos often have the opposite effect of pushing a player away from the game for many of the reasons described. I dig the nextfest so I can check out some under the radar games to add to my wishlist and pick up down the road. Final Factory, Menace from the Deep, Survive the Fall, and Welcome to ParadiZe all wishlisted so far.
I am thankful for these demos. I find them helpful in helping me decide whether to pay attention to the games they present.
Millennia is another civilization game. It’s not bad. I’d buy it on a sale.
Dread Dawn. It’s interesting. I may buy it in the future.
Diceomancer. Too dicey. Staying away.
Back to school. I recognize it from the unfinished mobile game series. Not touching that.
Lysfanga. Needs a controller. Uninstalled.See? Helpful.
I wish more games had demos. But I hate when the have demos that expire after a few days, because sometimes I’m busy and can’t play right away. Or if the game is released much later, sometimes I play the demo to remind myself of the reason I added to my wishlist.
I realize this is dumb, but nothing puts me in a grumpy mood quite like going to play a demo I downloaded two weeks ago only to find out I’m not allowed to play it anymore. I’ve removed games from my wishlist for that.
