Introduction
Demos are small versions of games that are a downloadable, and playable snipet that offer a taste of the game. When trying to determine if you're going to purchase a game or not, demos can give you the perfect introduction into what to expect. They are also agood marketing tools in the large competitive PC game genre. Since I started gaming 5 years ago though it seems that demos are more, and more rare. So I decided to check and see if I could confirm that they are indeed being released less often, and the possible reasons why.
Usually demos are developed far in advance of the actual game's release, using pre-release code. Demos also have their own schedule, and release date. Although it does happen more often now that demos are not released till after the game's full release date.The reasons for this are twofold. Game developers believe releasing the demo before the game will increase the pirated copies. The other reason to release after the game is to boost sales. Either due to sales being somewhat more sluggish than anticipated, or to renew interest.
There seems to be no real rhyme or reason to who releases demos. By that I mean both big and small game publishers and developers do demos. In some cases, publishers don't see much point in creating demos at all. Titles that carry with them a lot of hype, and titles that players will be intimately familiar because they are a series, sometimes don't merit the effort. Using more recent big releases as examples, both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 had demos released. These though were games that were highly anticiapted, and previewed at some of the larger gaming events. Which may account for the reason they had demos already to go anyway.
To their defense too, distributing game demos isn't cheap. Game publishers depend on magazine CD demo discs and the availability of bandwidth from sites other than their own to feed public demand. High demand just for game updates has shut down servers in the past, and demos are usually dozens, if not hundreds, of megabytes. So if they do not think the possible increase in sales will defer this cost, or perhaps the slice it takes out of game sale profits is not worth the trouble.
The question of whether or not they actually help sales does not always have a clear answer. Times sales can be directly linked, like when there is an inclusion of an order form embedded in the demo itself. Some publishers claim that demos can even hurt sales. Their claim is that the demo gives too much away, and people will play them for hours, and that's enough for them. I have seen this in the case of one game I used to play, Red Faction. That game was released in September 2001, and some people still play the demo MP.
Demos having an effect on piracy has two completely opposing points of view. At one time it was thought that game piracy was lessened by the release of demos. The theory was that people who would be more likely to steal pirated copies, would do so more often if no demo is available. Then there is the thinking that if demos are released then there can be piracy due to the demo. We all know that neither really is the case. Since people who want to steal will do it regardless.
People who have Mac's are in an even worse situation. The Mac availability is determined by whether or not there is a PC demo produced, and depending on the quality of the code involved. Never have I seen a Mac demo without a PC demo, even though more Mac games are being produced now. Only about 10 - 20 percent of the time is a PC demo code useable enough to craft a Mac version without major re-engineering. Although in the long run this could actually help to make the game better across all platforms. Checking portability is the main thing that this would help. It keeps platform conversion costs down, and it also increases the chances that problems in the code will be found, because disparate platforms expose flaws.
