• Jesse Schell Releasing a demo harms your game sales
    103 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Silly Sil;39587246]Now about the McDonalds, if no one gives a fuck, who made that picture? The problem is, people got used to being lied to. You and other people make false advertisement acceptable because "you'd also be pulling in the morality of marketing in general". That's simply wrong. [/QUOTE] the "problem" is people smartened up as customers and realized that they should also accompany their advertisements (something designed to convince you) with reviews and outside consensus about A:CM though, if they just showed prerelease gameplay footage, they really haven't made any false advertisements either - they just presented the game at its current unfinished state, meaning that anything was subjected to change. You guys happened to assume that the change would be for the better (which really is a perfectly reasonable assumption, but an assumption nevertheless) unless they really stated "this is some final ass game footage and will be exactly like this in release" or something - that would be weird though. If they had a finished product they probably would have released it right then and there
He's right, If most publishers today brought out a demo, you would see how much of a piece of shit it actually is and people wont buy it. If there's no demo people will just have to take the gamble.
It doesn't only count for bad games though. As mentioned in the video, good games can have bad demos, and demos cost money to make too. And if you have a good game with a good demo, chances are you didn't really need it sales wise.
Of course there aren't demos anymore, it takes too much effort and they wouldn't be able to sell a game if people got to see for themselves how bad it was. An informed consumer is bad for business, so they simple take away their ability to inform themselves and then flood them with misinfo, hype, bullshots and all the other crap the game 'journalism' industry is known for these days. However, I've discovered a great universal demo for most of the 'AAA' games put out these days: Get a blank CD, and put your drink on it. Instant demo! CoD games make for great decorative coasters.
[QUOTE=GhostlyGob;39584121]It does harm game sales, idiots. Look at colonial marines - would it have been a top seller if it had a demo?[/QUOTE] BUT THINK OF THE PRE-ORDER BONUSES!!!!!
[QUOTE=GhostlyGob;39584121]It does harm game sales, idiots. Look at colonial marines - would it have been a top seller if it had a demo?[/QUOTE] Making a bad game harms sales, making a bad game and covering up the fact that it's bad can gain some sales. The issue isn't with the demos (in most cases, I guess you could have a bad demo but good game), it's with the games being awful.
[QUOTE=Silly Sil;39587246]Wait wait wait. Back up. Is a sign saying "you can buy furniture here" or simply "furniture" morally questionable or false advertisement? No, it tells you the truth (as long as there actually is fucking furniture there). Is an add on TV saying "holy shit look at that vacuum! You can clean your carpet with it!" false advertisement? It doesn't promise you anything specific. It will only fail to deliver if the thing doesn't work at all, it never said it will clear your carpet in 100%. Is an add for coca-cola showing happy people false advertisement? It doesn't say "you will be this happy if you drink coca-cola". It does not fail to deliver because it didn't promise anything. However when someone shows you one thing but when you pay him you get something else, it's false advertisement. I could tell you that I'm gonna sell you a light bulb that will last for 2 years but it will break after a month. Is that false advertisement? Yes, I promised you something and you got something else. Just like I'd tell you that for 10$ you will get 8 liters of gas but when you pay me I'll give you only 4$. It's the same thing. Morally at least. Now about the McDonalds, if no one gives a fuck, who made that picture? The problem is, people got used to being lied to. You and other people make false advertisement acceptable because "you'd also be pulling in the morality of marketing in general". That's simply wrong. The difference is, an ad that promises something but it's fails to deliver is false advertisement, a lie made to make you buy something you don't actually want. The one that doesn't promise you anything cannot fail to deliver. In case of movies or games, they will sometimes try to trick you into thinking that the movie/game is something entirely different than what it really is. See Colonial Marines. Their presentation of the game is not representing the real product. They are selling you a lightbulb that breaks after a month but they advertise that it's gonna last years.[/QUOTE] I don't think people here know what false advertising means
I simply don't understand. Just make a high quality game, and releasing a demo shouldn't make you worry about how much you'll make. If you know you made a poor game, ofcourse releasing a demo is going to lower your profit, the game is shit. Not releasing a demo is an attempt to bypass this and simply sell shitty games full price because the consumer can only critique what the publisher wants them to see. Fuck all companies that go by that business practice.
i can actually see how it could effect sales, for example if there was a demo for diablo 3, i would have never purchased it because i would have known ahead of time what to expect which is why I think demos are essential for making happy customers, lack thereof means you have to just go on teasers etc and gamble, which leads to more sales but also leads to WAY more unsatisfied buyers [editline]14th February 2013[/editline] I will NEVER buy a game again without trying it first
[QUOTE=Juniez;39587476]the "problem" is people smartened up as customers and realized that they should also accompany their advertisements (something designed to convince you) with reviews and outside consensus e[/QUOTE] Oh so that's what makes false advertisement okay? We should make it legal then too... [QUOTE=Juniez;39587476]about A:CM though, if they just showed prerelease gameplay footage, they really haven't made any false advertisements either - they just presented the game at its current unfinished state, meaning that anything was subjected to change. You guys happened to assume that the change would be for the better (which really is a perfectly reasonable assumption, but an assumption nevertheless) unless they really stated "this is some final ass game footage and will be exactly like this in release" or something - that would be weird though. If they had a finished product they probably would have released it right then and there[/QUOTE] They gave us trailers and interviews with devs. Pretty much nothing that they said or showed is true.
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