Topic: Soapbox: Games need demos in the eShop IMO

Back on the 360 XBLA and XBLIG, every game had a demo, it was part of the criteria of getting on the store.

If I published/produced a game, I would want my demo in front of as many peoples eyes as possible.

When a game doesn't have a demo it suggests they don’t believe on their own game.

For me, having a demo vastly increases the chances of me buying the game.

My wife asks me to keep a look out for games she might like and when I present them to her she always asks “is there a demo?” and when I inevitably say no, she says “then no, see if you can find a demo”. (On occasion steam has a demo for the game when the eShop doesn't).

And thats it, thank you for your time.

Agreed. I've become more open to buying games on principle when I'm interested enough or have heard enough good things, but ultimately, I really try and look for demos to sell me on a game. It might be too much to ask for with some games that are really short or really long (making it hard to deliver a showcase of what the game's all about), but especially with genres I'm not as familiar with, it really helps to be able to give games a whirl before deciding whether or not to but them. It should at least be heavily encouraged to make demos available (or Nintendo should expand NSO's Game Trials so that there are regularly new games to try out - I've been waiting for Astral Chain to show up there for months now), and I don't think a multiplatform game should only have a demo available on one platform, either.

I’ve seen it stated a few times that sales drop when there is a demo so if that is true for all but the biggest games, then I can see why devs don’t waste the time.

Yeah, I've gotta be honest. While I would personally love more demos, far more times a demo has convinced me to NOT buy a game than it has to buy one, so I understand why they don't want to make them.

Demos cost money to make and not all developers have the luxury of being able to absorb that expense, especially when other players make gameplay videos that costs the publisher nothing.

And like @Xyphon22 has said, most demos probably turn me off the full versions more than anything, and I usually don't bother with demos for games that I'm confident that I will like. More recently though, I did buy the physical releases of Card Shark and Ultra Mega Xtra Party Challenge based on the strength of their demos.

Amusingly, one of the worst demos I'd played was for Sonic Forces (exclusive to Japan?). The demo only allowed you to play one level for ONE MINUTE, and that one minute was very frequently interrupted by tutorial pop-ups. Absolute trash. While the game itself otherwise looked promising, the demo was so infuriatingly stingy that I refused to buy the full game out of principle.

@Ironcore Same thing when games don't have a video clip of gameplay. To me, it means they're likely too afraid to show their product.