EA considering charging for 'very long game demos'

apatia77 · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:04

Seriously WTF, they want to charge people $10-$15 for demos to try their games before buying them?

How is this going to work? Will you get a fully working game ie 1/4 of a game with SP/MP but lets say less levels and maps?

http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/adventure/ripper/news.html?sid=6253980

Xinn · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:09

This might be a decent idea, they should refund you the money upon registration of buying the full game too. Would be worth it then imo.

BenjiSayers · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:10

Would this not work the same way as Fable being broken down in to chapters on XBL?

chrisxuk · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:12

R34P3R said:
This might be a decent idea, they should refund you the money upon registration of buying the full game too. Would be worth it then imo.

If this happened it wouldn't be as bad. Good idea!

eyetrip · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:13

R34P3R said:
This might be a decent idea, they should refund you the money upon registration of buying the full game too. Would be worth it then imo.

And if you think the demo is rubbish? Do you get a refund for that?

Stupid idea if you ask me. I have no problem with companies trying to make money, but things like this really sicken me as it's nothing mroe than greed - not business.

Ampeg · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:18

ffallic said:
And if you think the demo is rubbish? Do you get a refund for that?

Stupid idea if you ask me. I have no problem with companies trying to make money, but things like this really sicken me as it's nothing mroe than greed - not business.

Not sure its greedy but its definately good business. Those who want the game buy it, those that arent sure get to try a reasonable chunk of the game (not just a random level demo with no context) and presumably pay a fee that takes their previous payment into account for the full product.

How such a reasonable idea might sicken someone is truly beyond me :confused:

.

XPE · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:20

Wait if you are paying for a demo then surely that ISNT a demo

apatia77 · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:21

BenjiSayers said:
Would this not work the same way as Fable being broken down in to chapters on XBL?

Fable 2 was not a demo but a full game that was £40 on release day. They added though some DLC for it.

Would you say that Fallout 3 was a demo too?

Smit · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:24

I actually think this would work if they did it time released so that older demos are free and if you want to play a demo before it was 'officially' released then you could pay to try it.

agnes · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:25

Wow, EA are getting far too big for their own good. This is just stupid imo.

ags

antijoke · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:26

What a dumb idea.

Vonhelmet · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:28

EA considering alienating their potential customers.

Creature · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:29

It's only for longer demo versions, they'll still do normal demos for free.

_Gizka_ · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:29

apatia77 said:
How is this going to work? Will you get a fully working game ie 1/4 of a game with SP/MP but lets say less levels and maps?

Don't we all buy unfinished, broken games that need patching on release to make them work properly anyways? This practice has been implemented for years!

spydermixx · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:05

I'd imagine it would be similar to the recent Darksiders demo where you got the whole first dungeon to play.

i-bert · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:08

Isn't this what Sony did with GT5 prologue?

jackthezipper · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:08

apatia77 said:
Fable 2 was not a demo but a full game that was £40 on release day. They added though some DLC for it.

They broke the full game down into chapters on live though so you buy a part for £5 or so. So if you played the first chapter (free) but weren't completely sure you could get a little bit more for just a little cash.

antijoke · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:09

I dread to think what state Fifa 11 is going to be in with this practice in place.

Nymins · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:12

Normal demos = Free
Longer Demos/Chunk of Game = £

Tbh if you got the money back if you paid for the long demo and went full game, then its an "okay" idea.

I wouldn't mind downloading the free demo, then if i like it try a chunk for a certain price and if i liked it still, buy the game on the condition the money i paid for the chunk was refunded/deducted from the full game price. Seems fair enough.

Amnesia · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:13

i-bert said:
Isn't this what Sony did with GT5 prologue?

yes they did but had they charged even full price i would have said it was worth it....i spent far more hours playing that than most other full priced games.