Bug-Filled Demos Are Game Anti-Marketing? 49
Thanks to GamersWithJobs for their piece discussing early, bug-filled releases of videogame demos (actual link here, broken website referrals currently in effect.) The author points out that if the downloader "...doesn't like the demo, the player will probably skip the game which will hurt the publisher in the end. That makes me really wonder why some of them appear to insist on early trial versions." He concurs that sometimes PC demos are 'leaked' from magazine cover-discs, but wonders "why such a poor representation of a product would be released anywhere in the first place", and concludes: "I tried to understand the reasons for the release of rather 'flawed' demos, but short term gains such as marketing deals or market timing are usually clearly outweighed by the overall consequences."
Some but not all games (Score:3, Informative)
People don't clamor for a demo until the marketing hype has gone too far.
Re:Some but not all games (Score:2, Interesting)
I bought the full game, but by the time I got the package in the mail, I wasn't very hot on playing anymore. I played the full game for a while, but nearly all the cool stuff was already played out in the demo (crazy jumps and crashes). The game really was just the physics engine and incredible car damage model, after that, it's just a m
Re:Some but not all games (Score:2)
Then when I got the full game I had already mastered the basics and could now enjoy having a full squad, weapons of choice plus of course more then 1 map :)
Sure bugfilled demos can be bad. But only if I think the company is unlikely to fix the bugs. We are PC users, bugs don't scare us. Bring them on.
Re:here is probably the intended link (Score:2)
I get a 302 Moved Temporarily, when I send the referer as the full slashdot story URL. If I send the referer as just slashdot.org or nothing, then it sends me the real file.
Link weirdness... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Link weirdness... (Score:2)
Representing the end product (Score:5, Insightful)
People have come to accept that games are buggy, which scares me, because they whine and complain about it but continue giving away their money to the same publishers that poop on them time and again. So the only thing that will change in this scenario is the publics acceptance of poor craftsmanship.
Re:Representing the end product (Score:2)
Note that I don't only talk about bugs. A game where the engine is ready, but half the story has been cut out, the interface is still a sorry mess, and the difficulty curve throws random "bang, you're dead!" situations at the ave
Devil's Whiskey anyone? (Score:1)
The demo was more like a public beta test. The game was basically unplayable, major bugs everywhere, and really annoying gameplay (I'd like to make it two steps from the pub before getting my lvl 1 party slaughtered!). Yes, it was a big turn-off in regard to later purchase prospects.
Bug-riddled product much worse! (Score:3, Insightful)
well, actually (Score:3, Interesting)
Remember MOO3? The AI was so buggy, it couldn't win even if you never did anything.
UBI Soft Demos (Score:3, Insightful)
Ive been burned the last few years on hype. I wont even buy before doing research now. 15 minutes of research can save me 50 bux. Demos get more time.
Definitely! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Definitely! (Score:2)
Re:Definitely! (Score:1)
On CRTs, which are typically 4:3, most people will stretch 1280x1024 to fit the entire viewable area. Since 1280:1024 is not equal to 4:3, when so stretched, that resolution uses non-square pixels, and anything that assumes square pixels will appear slightly distorted.
On LCDs that have a native resolution of 1280x1024, typically square pixels are used, and hence the screen has an aspect ratio of 5:4.
Re:Definitely! (Score:2)
Fortunately in 3D engines it's a simple matter of applying a different viewport transformation to stretch the image to different aspect ratios, so this could just be an "advanced" option for those who care about
Demos are obsolete (Score:4, Interesting)
- finish game
- release game
- rework a demo
- release demo
- work on expansion
- start sequel
Nowadays, the schedule goes:
- leaked copy
- work on game
- release game
- warez version available
- finish game
- release gold edition
- start sequel
The nice things about leaking a beta are:
- you don't have to actually customize anything
- it's completely not your fault if it sucks.
Between the warez version coming out right after release, and the number of leaked betas from E3 or whatever, I think the market for official demos has completely dried up. Especially considering the longer development times for products nowadays, and the fact that most of these companies live hand-to-mouth.
Q3 Test (Score:4, Informative)
None of the problems stopped Q3A from being a commercial success across all of the above platforms. Indeed, I would think that the release of q3test actually helped the popularity of the game.
Just my 2 cents.
-molo
Re:Q3 Test (Score:3, Informative)
I don't have any problem with companies running open betas. The problem is only when they start to release demo versions that are untested and buggy and then use *those* versions as an open beta. It's one thing when they *say* it's buggy and a test release, it's totally another when they say it's the product.
And good companies
Is this (Score:1)
The discription of a buggy product turnign people off just seams like most actual packaged releases to me.
SWG (Score:1)
Besides, if you steal the source code to certin long awaited games not to mention any names, you can debug, write patches, hack, and write mods for games ahead of time.
Demos suck.
It all stems from.. (Score:3, Informative)
Tron 2.0 (Score:1)
Speaking of Tron 2.0 (Score:1)
Looking in the Wrong Place (Score:2)
See, you're looking in the wrong place. Many of these corporations don't really care how their games do in the lo
Fallout (Score:1)
Performance on the final game was pretty reasonable. However, a lot of people skipped buying because of the horrible demo.
demos also hurt development (Score:1)
Full Text: BugFilled Demos Are Game Anti-Marketing (Score:4, Informative)
--
Buggy Demos - How To Anti-Market A Game
Posted by: Spunior on Monday, October 06, 2003 - 09:26 AM EST
Experienced demo trouble lately? Patch required? You're probably not the only one. Read on for a brief look at quick publishers, the concept of second-class consumers, local releases and why they are a disservice to both sides.
Demo bugs aren't something we haven't seen before. However, Ubi Soft seems to be on a hot streak lately, having released three demos in the past weeks which either required a patch, are crash-heavy or look somewhat unfinished. In one case they complained about the early availability, in two other cases functional "US demos" were promised. First of all, a demo release depends on what the publisher demands. The developers aren't too keen on releasing early trials as they are only snapshots of what still is unfinished code and since they also have to dedicate resources for the production of them. It seems that Ubi's PR department believes in what actually seem to be rather questionable concepts.
Local release: The Beyond Good & Evil demo apparently made its way onto the internet from the CD featured in the French mag Joystick. Magazine demos leaking into the web is something that happens so frequently the marketing sections had to be aware of it. Now there's quite a number of players who have trouble getting the trial running without crashes. Which brings up the questions why such a poor representation of a product would be released ANYWHERE in the first place. Joystick is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) mags in France. Even under the illusionary premise that the demo is not going to be made available for download on the internet, there would still be quite a few subscribers who would experience the aforementioned problems. It's definitely a shame this happened with Beyond Good & Evil since the PS2 version I got to play at the Games Convention was very entertaining.
In the case of Lock On: Modern Air Combat it appears that the marketing department also needs to get some information on the release date of certain media outlets. Ubi Soft producer Matt "Wags" Wagner on the demo release.
I have no idea why it was released before ECFS. The plan was to release CD versions atECFS on 05 Oct and online on 06 Oct with mirrors. I hope to know more on Monday after I talk with Paris. However, it sounds like Gamestar jumped the gun and released it before they were told to do so. There's nothing more I can say at this time, but I hope you enjoy this early taste.
I'm quite sure Gamestar wouldn't have put the demo on their CD without the approval of the publisher. The monthly mag ships to stores on the first Wednesday of each month. Which clearly was October 1st this month. And subscribers naturally receive their issues on the weekend before that. Well-known fact since we're talking about a magazine here which has a reader base of several hundred thousand people.
Euro twits: Now in two cases the publisher was quick to point out that there will be functional US demos available soon. Now the nature of the internet - which seems to be new to Ubi - makes information and data basically accessible to everyone and everywhere. Which means that US gamers are likely to download the Euro versions as well instead of waiting for the 'proper' release to show up. There's something else that makes one wonder: under the assumption that Euro demos will not run in NA (look forward to the 'enjoyable miracles' Digital Rights Management might provide), why would releasing a buggy demo in Europe look like a clever idea? The EU PC games market is on par with the NA market, not to mention the growing ones in Eastern Europe. Quite a number of PC titles - especially certain genres or products developed in Eastern European countries) sell a lot better here. For instance, in the case of Vietcong or Ubi Soft's very own
Temple of Elemental Evil - No demo; too many bugs? (Score:2)
I guess it works both ways. In this case, better to let someone just hear about the bugs than to give them the chance to experien
Re:Temple of Elemental Evil - No demo; too many bu (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Gimme a break! (Score:2)
Re:Gimme a break! (Score:1)
Demo slips? (Score:1)
I wonder if most of the demos gamers receive are actually intended for mass consumption. It seems to me that those in the industry, (i.e. potential publishers, supporters, gaming mags, etc,) would be much more tolerant and maybe even expectant of early demos, which of course may be buggy.
As a consumer, (I hate that word,) I've found myself rather tolerant of buggy demos, as I truly do understand that they probably aren't a reflection of the end product. What does irk me is when I play a flawed demo, but o
Another viewpoint (Score:2)
Damned if you do and damned if you don't (Score:3, Interesting)
So which is it? Should a publisher put out a demo before the game is gold or after?
If they put out an official demo before, OF COURSE its not final code. In fact, at least part of the development team has to stop working on the main sku to get the demo out so it slows both projects down. So the demo gets into gamers' hands before the game hits the shelf, but everyone gets pissed off because its not bug-free.
If the official demo comes out after the game ships, everyone complains about that and uses it as an excuse to infringe the publisher's copyright and download a warez copy. Huh.
How can the publishers make you happy when you don't even know what you want?
Marketers (Score:2)
Since they don't actually "play" the games, they don't really know what they're doing, but they have enough power (especially if they are in-house) to demand most everything they want.
The
Re:Marketers (Score:1)
I used to run a team of games testers and I finally left the games industry in disgust at just these kinds of attitudes from management and in particular the marketing people.
In short, the games industry is run by people who have very little idea of what constitutes their product. They dont play games and they dont understand the software development process. This would be no bad thing if the typical games industry manager were capable of taking on board
Re:Marketers (Score:1)
Re:Marketers (Score:2)
I'm a programmer, who JUST had a run-in with marketing at work. It was not pretty...
We create and support an on-line application used by a variety of different offices. These offices use our program to disseminate information to the general public.
Marketing wanted to add a new 'feature' which would be promoting our products, over those of our customers. I 'suggested' many times that we should make this an option- not a locked-in feature. During the initial meeting with marketing, they laughed
Suprised? (Score:2)
This comes as a suprise to whom? I've yet to see a company in the software field where a single dollar today wasn't valued far more than a C-note tomorrow.
My friends will envy me... (Score:1)
In this fastmoving scene like the gamedevelopment todays stuff is allready old
So a bunch of kiddies who want to bragg against their friends DL these demo's. Oh and BTW. it's free so why not...
Also as mentioned elsewhere game development cycles seem to take longer now.. how long have we waited on the next release of unreal2003 [hot.ee] while their marketingm