Study to publishers: Don't release demos, just trailers

by Justin McElroy { Apr 15th 2008 at 11:30AM }

To us, demos seem like a great way to get the word out about games, but a recent study suggests that they might be better tools for consumers than solid marketing strategy. The Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Group (EEDAR) reports that games that are marketed on Xbox Live and PSN with a trailer only sell considerably better than games that ship with a demo.

On the PS3, games with no demo or trailer actually sold better than those with a demo, while the inverse was true on the 360. Now, this doesn't mean EEDAR wants you to lose your precious demos forever, but they recommend starting work on a demo after the game's on shelves so no polishing resources are lost. Though we can definitely see the logic in this (we've been kept from buying a few bad games by demos), we kind of wish EEDAR would keep our secret to themselves.

Tags: demos, psn, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

tmmoore_nc @ Apr 15th 2008 11:34AM

Demos are a double-edged sword. They make people want to buy the good games and stay away from the bad ones. Trailers...pure hollywood. Demos all the way.

copa @ Apr 15th 2008 11:47AM

Exactly. If they had broken it out by review score, I'm sure they would have seen that demos improved sales of good games, and hurt sales of bad games.

BioShock and Dead Rising in particular are games that had huge sales boosts at launch because their demos were awesome and created a lot of Internet buzz.

Jomolungma @ Apr 15th 2008 11:57AM

Along those lines, I have never bought a retail game solely because I liked the demo. However, I HAVE bought XBLA games based on the demo. Not sure if the study differentiated between the two, but I think demos are essential for XBLA games.

OMGOMG @ Apr 15th 2008 12:02PM

Bioshock disagrees.

T @ Apr 15th 2008 12:06PM

Agreed. If you're a publisher a demo could be a trouble if a game sucks.

If you're a customer, it's the best way. I'll admit the demo sold me on Crackdown.

...Though the demo for Virtua Fighter failed to demonstrate the insane rate at which the CPU *adapts* to the player. I HATE fighting games that associating blocking with difficulty.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Apr 15th 2008 12:04PM

Talking Heads awesome. Jonathan Demmes first film. Ah when will get them in rock band? Demos did save me from space giraffe, and several others. Though I bought bioshock, culdcept, and crackdown on their demos. Fact: make a good game and i will play it. Bad game...not so much.

upz @ Apr 15th 2008 12:05PM

Agreed with Copa. There are many more factors at play here than Joystiq's usual humorous oversimplifications. The real message developers need to take home is that if their game is terrible, releasing a demo won't make sales any better. Conflict: Denied Ops, for example, received absolutely no benefit from releasing a demo.

baby sea tuna @ Apr 15th 2008 12:06PM

"Bioshock disagrees"

As do Dead Rising and Lost Planet.

CB @ Apr 15th 2008 2:33PM

Actually with Bioshock and Dead Rising, I was kind of put off with the demos because, of course, I didn't understand it that much. Both ended up being *GREAT* games in my opinion.
LP, looked like it had good SP in the demo, glad I only rented it.

Tim The Enchanter @ Apr 15th 2008 3:17PM

Agreed, in part. Demos have to be well done in order to represent most of the game. The Crackdown demo was a good example of this. They made it easy to get strong and enjoy the game quickly to give you a taste of what you'd be able to do in-game.

However, some games simply don't translate well to a demo. But I'd still like to see demos of those games as well.

Synner @ Apr 15th 2008 11:35AM

Customers to developers:

Just make better games.

sicsided @ Apr 15th 2008 11:41AM

Developer to Customer: Your like a fat people at a buffet, we can't please everyone with everything.

dark_inchworm @ Apr 15th 2008 11:54AM

sicsided: Your a like illiterut.

Vincent060 @ Apr 15th 2008 12:08PM

@sicsided
LOL, so true. There is always someone complaining.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Apr 15th 2008 12:14PM

Thank you for designing Yaris you ass.

sicsided @ Apr 15th 2008 12:19PM

@dark - Yeah I forgot to recheck my grammar before spelling. Seriously though, even when developers make a good game, there is always someone to nitpick the hell out of it. I'm still in school, and when we have to present maps or games, its fun but it is also nerve racking. Like a few quarters back we made a UT2004 map, and we got a zero the first time through. We scraped the whole map and a got a 7-8 on it. Lots of people liked it but then there is always the few that don't. You can't be everything to everyone because then you might as well be nothing.

Synner @ Apr 15th 2008 12:48PM

No there ARE some great games out there, but a lot of developers push pure crap out too.

I found it a little sad that this post made it seem like seeing a game is bad before you waste your money could be a bad thing, like us customers are just aholes for not buying game's people worked so hard on, no matter how mediocre they are.

Phranctoast @ Apr 15th 2008 11:37AM

Dark Sector is a game that would be helped sales wise by a demo. Of course they need to make the demo in a level where you have some interesting powerups to push it harder.

Demos keep me from not liking a game when the game isn't really that good to begin with.

xFenixKnightx @ Apr 15th 2008 11:56AM

Very true a demo for DS would be great, maybe on the Baggage Claim level? But thats the problem with it they still wont have the bubble shield, glaive environmental power, glaive explosion power and the cloaking power to really grasp the game.

Ive been playing online recently and Im liking it more and more everyday. Pretty cool when your infected and your a killing machine out there taking out 10-15 people in a row.

Phranctoast @ Apr 15th 2008 2:18PM

haven't gotten into the online portion (haven't tried). Game is great though.

I think Haze will do well with a demo. Especially one sporting online co-op thru the single player campaign.

Vcize @ Apr 15th 2008 11:39AM

I really, really hate these idiotic studies that leave out common sense.

What this really boils down to is simple. If your game has lots of hype (like GTAIV) and you know it is going to sell a ton, you don't release a demo as it can only hurt you. If it's your normal everyday game then you need something to hook people.

Most publishers follow this, so when something idiotic like "games with no demo or trailer actually sold better than those with a demo" is published, it really makes you say "OH REALLY? NO $H!T RETARDS!"

GTA4 is not going to release a demo because it's going to sell a bazillion copies. So now it counts as a game that sells a bazillion copies without a demo, even though it would have sold a bazillion copies even if it did have a demo. That cannot be extrapolated to apply to Joe's Under-Hyped Game #7.

It's cause and effect, and these fools have it backwards.

Vidikron (FU) @ Apr 15th 2008 11:43AM

Heh.. that's a very good point.

mikeypop @ Apr 15th 2008 11:46AM

Ya most AAA games don't have or need demos...

baby sea tuna @ Apr 15th 2008 12:12PM

However, it's nice when AAA franchise titles do release demos. That way, you can pick up new buyers who may have missed the first installment, while giving fans of the series a little taste to whet their appetites. God of War II/Chains and MGS 2 are both great examples of this.

upz @ Apr 15th 2008 12:13PM

You're absolutely right, but GTA is a terrible example. The main reason GTA doesn't have a demo is that it takes far more resources to build a demo for an open world game. Previous GTAs and other sandbox style games have rarely had demos, with Burnout Paradise being the sole exception in recent memory. Building a demo for these games is a lot more complicated than throwing a couple of plucked stages our way.

WiNG @ Apr 15th 2008 12:19PM

Vcize wins.

rv @ Apr 15th 2008 1:04PM

While this is not true all the time, it is most of the time. And the large sellers do probably take up a lot of the data. I wonder what the stats would be like if they removed halo 3. I also wonder if there was a statistically significant distance between the 2.

Beware of the lurking variable.

Vcize @ Apr 15th 2008 1:39PM

Upz...

Crackdown had a demo, and didn't Saints Row have one too (I can't remember)?

hvnlysoldr @ Apr 15th 2008 1:53PM

Common sense isn't common. It wouldn't be common if everyone keeps complaining no one has a common sense.

Matt B @ Apr 15th 2008 11:39AM

I think it's hit or miss.I played the Motorstorm demo and wasn't impressed. But playing the actual game was much better than the demo. Same with Resistance. The Bioshock demo on steam made me buy it though I got bored and never finished it.

I do think that devs need to be more careful of how their demo plays though. It can easily put people off if something isn't right.

Kendall B @ Apr 15th 2008 11:40AM

Yeah, I can agree that while ultimately demos are better for the consumer, trailers are much better for the industry side.

Recent example: Had a lot of interest in purchasing Turok before I played the demo. Reduced my interest to zero rather quickly.

myspacebaritonenation @ Apr 15th 2008 11:42AM

If a demos rubbish, then it's not exactly helping the game it's trying to sell. Thats what demos are- they help us, the consumer, decide what to spend our hard earned money on. If your crappy game has a crappy demo of course it won't sell. The trick is not to make a crappy game in the first place :/

WiiSports Machine...Fernandos in disguise PSN: Killjebus @ Apr 15th 2008 11:44AM

I appreciate demos. It helps my buying decisions.

MGS4 demo please Konami?

baby sea tuna @ Apr 15th 2008 12:05PM

They don't need a demo to sell that game, nor do they have the resources to waste on it. They need 100% of their staff working 110% to get it out the door on time.

Now an untested property like Little Big Planet or a sequel to a weak franchise like Killzone 2, would most likely benefit from a demo.

Farseer (GDI) @ Apr 15th 2008 12:41PM

lol @ WSM - like you're not going to buy MSG 4. That's like Fernando asking for a Mario or Zelda demo. lol

LiK @ Apr 15th 2008 11:45AM

wrong, i bought quite a few games cuz the demos impressed me. for example, i had no idea what MGS1 was about until i played the demo and i was floored by it. as for the more recent games, it's demos for games like Uncharted and Crackdown that got me into buying those games.

trailers are fine but demos are the only way people can see if the game is fun for them aside from rentals. if the demo is well made, it can work.

Kane The Second @ Apr 15th 2008 11:45AM

I never buy a game based on trailer...Its either a demo or a rental.

andyg8180 @ Apr 15th 2008 11:45AM

demos have made me go out and buy games... But also, i have strayed away from games i really wanted...

"Kayne and lynch" lol

But overall, it works in my favor and not the devs... I dont buy crap... But if there were no demos, i would buy crap covered in sprinkles...

GRT @ Apr 15th 2008 11:47AM

Lots of good points made so far. I have to say, if I'm not interested in a game, I probably won't bother to check out the demo. If I am interested, I'll d/l the demo. And that demo might convince me that I don't need the game. Someone mentioned Turok upthread and I had the same reaction...I was pretty interested in the game, but after playing the demo I totally lost interest.

So how do you get people to play demos of games they aren't interested in, in order to get them interested?

Leilock @ Apr 15th 2008 11:48AM

They should really compare those sales figures on a timeline that passes the launch window. I'm sure there's alot of dopes that pick up a game unknowingly just because of a trailer, but the word does get out after a while when a game is just downright terrible. However I've bought XBLA games a year after release cause it had a free demo and i liked it.

confused @ Apr 15th 2008 11:52AM

"To us, demos seem like a great way to get the word out about games, but a recent study suggests that they might be better tools for consumers than solid marketing strategy."

"they might be better tools"? wtf

Mutant @ Apr 15th 2008 11:53AM

Thanks for the Talking Heads reference. I'm listening to Stop Making Sense right now.

There are a lot more factors than the demo that affect the sales and this study seems to ignore them.

Nate @ Apr 15th 2008 11:54AM

Correlation does not imply causation.

Pureshooter @ Apr 15th 2008 11:54AM

Actually, I find it humerous when horrible games have demos out weeks or months prior to release. It's a clear indication of how clueless the developer/publisher is regarding the quality of the title. Hour of Victory and Turning Point are a couple of examples.