Demo's in 2024 have gotten very complicated.
The balance of benefit has shifted and the future is in question.
Because I’m old, my reference point for game demos are the physical demo disks I would get in gaming magazines or cereal boxes.
They contained an amuse-bouche of various different games that I could dip my toe into and see what stuck.
Then I could save up my pocket money and send my father out into the world to buy me the game I know I wanted, because I had been given a little bit of a taste of the full game.
Whilst, nowadays the method of getting access to demos is different, the concept remains the same.
On paper, the benefits of a game demo work for both developer and consumer.
The developer gets to give away something for free, meaning more people will give it a go, and hopefully convert into sales.
The consumer, gets to try something without risk to their wallet, and be able to make an informed decision about purchasing the game.
This, ‘on paper’ theory, holds water, however, now in 2024 the theory is aggressively leaking and the future is uncertain.
Questionable value for developer
In the olden times when dinosaurs roamed the world and I was buying video game magazines there wasn’t a YouTube, a Twitch, or a Steam store.
I only knew what games existed from the magazine I was holding in my hand, from my friends, and what was available to rent at my local Blockbuster.
There were so many games that existed that I had no way of hearing about.
My perfect game could be out there and unless it showed up in a magazine or a rental I would miss it.
So, demo disks gave developers a powerful way to reach their audience with very few other avenues to pursue.
These days, a game can reach me via a million different ways, Youtube, TikTok, Steam Store, Instagram Advert, a toot, and the list goes on.
No longer does the game demo hold as much importance in marketing the existence of a game.
But it doesn’t stop there. Game demos are an expense and complication in development, and quite a big one depending on the complexity of your game. Given game budgets are tight, especially now, and the avenues to market your game numerous, there’s far less incentive to make a game demo.
If your game is on Steam, then a demo is partially voided by the fact that Steam allows anyone to play a game for under two hours and get a refund if they don’t like it. That inherently is the demo and costs the developer far less in development and testing. However, this point gets quite complicated the more you dig into it, more on that later.
When before the demo was of equal benefit to player and developer, the scales have swung aggressively away from the developer and there’s not a lot of incentive to make a demo.
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Even more value for the Customer
As I said, the scales have swung out of balance, and whilst it’s a lot less beneficial for the developer, it’s now even more important to the consumer.
The decline in demos for the aforementioned reasons hurts the consumer more on platforms without refund policies like Sony and Xbox.
With nearly endless avenues for coverage, some nearly endless spins on the same story. One YouTuber might poo poo the game, whilst a Twitch streamer has had the time of their life with it.
There ultimately becomes only one way to know whether you will like the game, and that is to try it.
As mentioned earlier, if you’re lucky enough to have access to Steam you can give it a go, however it's not one-to-one like a demo.
Whilst some demos were just the first two levels or thirty minutes, others gave you a more representative experience.
Some allowed you to play an entire slice of the game, like a strategy game only allowing you to play as one race on one map.
Some started you further in the game with more powers and upgrades so you could really get the feel for it.
Steam on the other hand is just the first two hours, and that’s not a one shoe size fits all scenario.
The first two hours of a Civilization game represent nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Likewise the first two hours of a souls like is just getting beat up a bunch without really getting into what really makes the game tick.
Not to mention it offers very little recourse should the game stop being enjoyable in the third of fourth hour. Something developers are very aware of as they put their efforts into making a game be resistive to refunds.
Meeting the customer need to be able to try out a product for the purpose of making an informed decision is, now, more important and also getting harder.
Wider industry impact
In the more recent years, new variables have entered the industry that color the waters of game demos.
For one, an increasing number of games are launching in an evolutive state. Games are shifting release after release to their intended form, a demo would either have to be updated along side the game, requiring more funding and development time, or it would be stuck in the past.
Another influence is Early Access, which is effectively a paid demo by way of venture capital. With this, studios are demoing their game, and making changes in response to player feedback, which is a win for both sides. However, it also requires the consumer to pay up front, without a chance of refund, and can be drawn out as long as three years.
The weird impact i’ve been musing over lately is Game Pass. Like early access, the consumer is paying for the ability to demo a game.
However, with a game on GP there is even less of an incentive for that developer to make a demo accessible by anyone. This then encourages Microsoft to not have a robust refund system like Steam as GP will be their official stance.
Game Pass is not equivalent to having a game demo available to the user, it still requires money to be spent, and as that subscription fee goes up it get less attractive to put the credit card down for just one month (remember the $1 game pass??).
Honestly, I don’t know where game demos will be in three years. As development gets harder I don’t see much to incentivize a developer to put out a demo. Nothing seems to be pressuring Sony and Xbox to have a robust refund policy, and the price of game pass is only going to go up. Some developers still put out demos, at their cost, in a hopes that that is what will make their game shine. For example we have Steam Next Fest style moments a few times a year. I know some developers feel that the only way to get their game across is for you to play it, but for the rest they’ll stick with what’s cheapest and easiest for them.