User Blog:
The Need for Game Demos

In a previous blog post I released details about Halo: Reach's upcoming multiplayer beta, which is set to release at the beginning of May - around 6 months before the full retail version will be released of Bungie’s final Halo game. The concept of this has got me thinking about the importance around the different styles video games tend to release demos to the public. We see in this instance, similar to how Bungie handled the release of Halo 3 in 2007, that they want to push game content to attract players’ months before the store will hit shelves. But then again, do they really need to do this? It can be set in stone that really Microsoft and Bungie need not give the fans content to simply advertise this game when they will know fine well that the game will fly off shelves during its fall 2010 release. It can be hard to think that they are putting the demo out to produce a solid testing benchmark that the game can work off of and fix their problems, when other games companies seems to solve their problems fine with frequent in-house testing.

Demos tend to get a release just a couple of weeks before the games expected release date. In some cases the demo can release only days before, giving the potential customers less time to make a decision around the purchase of the game itself. Both methods do have their advantages. Releasing the demo weeks before a game's release allows the player to get to full grips with the game experience with plenty of time left for them to make the appropriate decision regarding a potential purchase. This can be helpful when two similar games are coming out in or around the same period, allowing the player to familiarise themselves with the game demo of one game compared to another, which could mean the player could prefer one game over the other even if that game is released at a later period.

To make it clearer, take for example when FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer release their annual football outings. FIFA could release their game weeks after Pro releases theirs, but both demos come out at the same time around a month before Pro is released. The player can familiarise themselves with both games and make a decision, if the players decides the prefer FIFA over Pro then they will wait that little while longer to get the game they want. It was good for FIFA to release the demo as early as that so that the potential customer could play the game, make a decision and choose that game over the competitor, despite the later release date. However a problem that can occur is that the game could release the demo too far away, players could forget about the game weeks after playing the demo and not have any dedication towards purchasing the title. Giving the player a shorter time to decide means they will be thinking about the game more, whereas having weeks apart will allow the player to forget and distance themselves from setting their money down for the game.