Free Game Demos May Become a Thing of the Past
"The reality is that we might not see any free game demos in the long term," says Crytek CEO.
By Steve Watts, 04/16/2010
Game demos have been around for years, but a few companies are starting to wonder if they'll continue to be viable. Develop reports that Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli thinks demos are becoming too expensive for many studios. "A free demo is a luxury we have in the game industry that we don't have in other industries such as film," he said. "Because we've had this free luxury for so long, now there are plans to change this people are complaining about it. The reality is that we might not see any free game demos in the future." EA recently hit controversy when it suggested packaging long game demos for $10-15 on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store. Yerli thinks the problem wasn't so much with the idea as how it was presented. "Every time we see a publisher doing something to improve the industry, making things more commercially viable and actually increasing the market, people instantly think this is only some money-hungry ploy," he said. "Yes it is quite unpopular, but this is a messaging issue." He says he thinks "there is a genuine interest here to give gamers something more than a small demo released for free."
According to Yerli, the question isn't between free demos or priced, larger demos. Instead, he thinks the free model is becoming unsustainable. "But whether we do have a [Crysis 2] demo or not, do I think companies need to release so many demos? I think that we'll see more and more games not carrying a demo in the future, because it becomes prohibitively expensive."
Source:
1up.com
