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Did it really leave it?
For me, nearly. Though I suppose Activisions actions in recent years have helped EA look better, through no work of their own.
Ea to charge for game demos
- Thread starter dafloppyone
- Start date
For me, nearly. Though I suppose Activisions actions in recent years have helped EA look better, through no work of their own.
It wouldn't surprise me if this was a reaction to the huge popularity the BC2 beta saw and someone at EA had a little lightbulb appear over their head and thought 'what if all those people had paid $10 for that', completely forgetting to consider the fact that if it had been $10 there would have been about 74 players worldwide.
a fiver to be able to play one season on Fifa
or a fiver for the first 3 levels of AVP
or a tenner for one month on the multiplayer of BFBC2
i may consider that as £30 for a game that is getting mixed reviews / im not sure whether i would enjoy is a little too much
also how many games have you bought that you have not played past the first few levels because you didnt like it
i have bought supreme commander , WiC , Stalker, Fear2 to name a few if i could have bought a £5 - £10 cut down version i may have saved £100.
hell who would have bought hellgate london after trialling the multiplayer for a week
or a fiver for the first 3 levels of AVP
or a tenner for one month on the multiplayer of BFBC2
i may consider that as £30 for a game that is getting mixed reviews / im not sure whether i would enjoy is a little too much
also how many games have you bought that you have not played past the first few levels because you didnt like it
i have bought supreme commander , WiC , Stalker, Fear2 to name a few if i could have bought a £5 - £10 cut down version i may have saved £100.
hell who would have bought hellgate london after trialling the multiplayer for a week
But a few years ago you could play hours of FIFA for free as a demo, you could play a couple of levels of an FPS for free as a demo, you could play an online game on a demo server for free. If you didn't like it, no harm done, carry on your way to the next game you like the look of.
Why would you be even remotely happy to have to spend a fiver to do the same now?
Developers should be providing more proper free demos, not charging for them. Hell, more demos will probably even cut down on a lot of piracy too as so many games now you can't try before you buy, I can't help but feel a lot of any rises in piracy numbers are down to that.
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This is what demos are for, but why pay for a marketing tool? A demo is a way for the seller to prove they have a good product that's worth investing in.
Whats your point? That with a pirated copy of the game you couldn't play through official channels. Well strike me down as if that wasn't bleeding obvious... If you turn things into P2P, especially if its a singleplayer game, you'll create a whole new brand of piracy for people who refuse to be ripped off by greedy game companies. Just because its in a minority with things like WoW doesn't mean it wouldn't be much greater with other games. Especially singleplayer games.
I agree Kenai, the lack of demos, and proper ones at that is a joke these days. The choice is currently "Do i pirate the full game to see if i like it or not or do i get the demo" Since there is no demo that leaves only 1 choice if you don't want to get ripped off.
Wouldn't it be awesome if the games industry was just about the industry saying "What awesome game can we make next to push gaming to the next level?"
rather than them saying "What scheme can we come up with next to fleece players out of more money for less game?"
rather than them saying "What scheme can we come up with next to fleece players out of more money for less game?"
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I was only just defending them the other day to a friend...
There would certainly be more willing to pay that than you may think - people are already indirectly paying for beta access through services like fileplanet and you only have to look at Starcraft 2 to see the amounts people were willing to pay to gain access to a beta key.
@OP quote... If Michael Patcher says so then it must be true.
It'll work, because people will pay. Look at the MW2 boycott. I swear i'm the only person who still hasn't bought it.
Free proper demos is the way forward. If a dev can get proper feedback on both gameplay and stability, and then fix them for the full release, it will stop people going "Oh it might be crap/barely work. Not worth £30, but worth downloading".
Free proper demos is the way forward. If a dev can get proper feedback on both gameplay and stability, and then fix them for the full release, it will stop people going "Oh it might be crap/barely work. Not worth £30, but worth downloading".
There would certainly be more willing to pay that than you may think - people are already indirectly paying for beta access through services like fileplanet and you only have to look at Starcraft 2 to see the amounts people were willing to pay to gain access to a beta key.
@OP quote... If Michael Patcher says so then it must be true.
Starcraft is riding the hype (no surprises there) and there will always be weird little Korean folk willing to pay through the nose for exclusive early access. Comparing that to the **** companies usually release as a demo aren't quite in the same league.
You failed by joining the boycott imo
My general stance on games is its **** until proven otherwise (with some exceptions). Torchlight i hesitated about buying and decided to pirate it (i didn't realise there was a demo) and ended up buying it. CnC3 i hesitated about buying and decided to pirate it and i'm glad i did, the game was terrible. I may dl CnC4 to try it out but i'm doubtful it'll even be worth the bandwidth.
Demo's stop wasting peoples time and give devs some actual feedback. I would like to quote BFBC2 but that wasn't a beta, it was a half arsed demo. Access to 1 map, 1 mode and barely any of the weapons resulting in massive unbalance and the truly pitiful interface outside of playing...
Er i meant he failed by joining the group of boycotters instead of just not bothering to get it. Tbh i'd probably of refused to get it on the grounds that MW had a lot of terrible elements in it that could change it from fun to frustrating with ease and everything i've seen and heard about MW2 seems that they simply made the fun part even smaller while ramping up frustration. Dedicated servers really isn't the main reason i refused to get that game. Though it is a pretty hefty decision maker.
You failed by joining the boycott imo
I joined the boycott because I hoped that the PC gaming community had some substance and resolve and we could accomplish something by it.
I was proven horribly wrong. Still not going to buy the game though. I've played it, single player was alright, multiplayer was a mashed up joke and i'd rather spend £40 or whatever extortionate price they're still charging on bricks to smash my head against.
/Bitter
