Hear me out: I believe all games should come with a free demo. In fact, I think there should be a law demanding it. And I realize that this would take an enormous amount of effort, some kick-ass lawyers and all of us gamers to unite, but considering that campaigns like Stop Killing Games are doing well globally, I don’t think it would be that hard to get everyone on board.
Because let’s face it, there are many reasons to demand this. It would protect us as consumers, and it wouldn’t be without its benefits for gaming companies. Here’s why I think so:
You’ll Know What You’re Buying
The main reason I’m suggesting this is, of course, to give consumers a better insight into what they’re spending money on.
You might argue and say something like “Aren’t the trailers there for that?” But if you think the trailers are true representations of games, you’re hugely mistaken. Those are usually made by a specialist who uses high-end PCs to capture gameplay, are usually heavily scripted and mixed with fully pre-rendered, 3D animated mini-movies created by elite animation studios. And the reality often couldn’t be further from it.
Let’s take the Tesla Roadster for example. You saw the newest showcase of it and you saw it can “fly”. You wait 5 years for the release and you go to the dealership, buy it and on your way home you notice that it can’t fly. That’s where you realize that “flying” was an option for the elite few who were handpicked by Elon himself.
Or an even better analogy would be getting a car without doing a test drive. I know for a fact, I wouldn’t do that even with a new car, let alone the used one I have right now.
This is not unheard of, in any industry. Many tech companies offer demos of their products, the publishing industry offers free samples of books you can read before you buy, so gaming shouldn’t be any different.
Having a 30-minute playable demo would give gamers a clear intro on what to expect and save a lot of people a lot of money on buying stuff they don’t actually like.
You Can Test Game Performance on Your Own Hardware
Sometimes the problem isn’t that you don’t know what to expect, but rather that you don’t know how it will work on your device. Video games keep getting bigger, better graphics, and more demanding overall.
With the market that we’re currently in, it’s almost impossible for people to get their hands on a decent PC, and don’t even get me started on a high-end one. You could literally go on a luxury vacation, get a bunch of other fancy stuff or cover months of rent. Where I live, the price of a high-end PC could cover 4 years of rent (based on the last place I rented).
So, most of us are stuck with what we have or have to settle for cheaper PCs or devices that are not as good. As we all know it, these options can’t handle more demanding games. And sometimes games aren’t optimized as well as we hoped for. So if we’re able to test it for ourselves, it would resolve so many issues.
It Would Prevent Bad Reviews
One of the biggest reasons why companies should consider this is to prevent bad reviews from ever having to show up on their pages. Nothing can hurt a company more than a poor review in a store. There are numerous studies that show that ratings and reviews influence purchasing decisions. Take for example this study done by Keda Qiu and Liyi Zhang.
It’s safe to assume that it relates to video games too. If people see a game with relatively low reviews, they’re more likely to go looking for another game rather than risking it on a game that has a potential to lead to negative experience.
In case someone from corporate is reading this:
No Demo → A chance for more bad reviews → Fewer sales → Less Money → Fired???
It Could Reduce Refund Requests
One of the main ways users are protecting themselves from bad games at the moment is to refund. In case you didn’t know, Steam allows you to refund a game within two hours of playing it, so that’s what a lot of people do.
But wouldn’t it be better if we had playable demos on every game and instead of refunding, people could just try games out?
A bad review is bad enough, but a bad review that says the game was so bad they had to refund it is much worse. In a conversation with two friends those words don’t have a lot of impact but if someone says it on twitter and 100 thousand people see it, the company’s bank account is going to suffer significantly.
In case someone from corporate is reading this:
No Demo → A chance for more refunds → Fewer sales → Less Money → Fired???
It Could Rebuild Trust Between Players and Publishers
I’ve been part of the gaming world since my childhood and one thing I noticed is that the hype doesn’t mean what it used to mean a few years ago. People are more skeptical, more on their toes and they stopped buying games before launch. Rightfully so.
There were numerous occasions where I pre-ordered a game, only for the game to get delayed and end up being buggy, unoptimized or completely unplayable. I’m not the only one that had this experience. When something like that happens, you lose the trust of the players and the next time you announce something they’re not going to get hyped over something that could potentially be a huge letdown.
Final Thoughts
Having a playable demo is a step in the right direction of fixing what’s been broken after years of neglect. It’s a chance to make gaming a magical place that it once was. This isn’t something that I have resources or influence to pursue but a guy can hope for a better future. If you’re someone who sees this as a worthy cause, feel free to pursue it. I’ll do whatever is in my power to support you. I even wish you good luck with it.
