EA to charge people to play demos??

Gamer Bhoy 89

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ea-to-release-paid-dlc-before-boxed-games_0

SCANDALOUS!

I won't be hopping on board anyway

ciano1

lol :rolleyes:

Antar Bolaeisk

Sounds more to me like they're just selling DLC before the full game release. I don't really see the difference between that and selling DLC after the release providing they are selling content that won't be in the final release as opposed to just selling us the game level by level.

dreamers75

Can you play demos with Xbox live silver?

mailrewop

dreamers75 wrote: »

Can you play demos with Xbox live silver?

i think you can but you have to wait a few days more, it used to be like that not sure if its still the same

rizzla

mailrewop wrote: »

i think you can but you have to wait a few days more, it used to be like that not sure if its still the same

Yeah this is the way it is. Thinks it's 1-2 weeks though.

D4RK ONION

Thread of the day!

This sounds kind of ridiculous, but I'm sure DLC sounded stupid when it was first proposed too!

"Extra levels? Why don't they just put them on the disc lol"

Stercus Accidit

Stupid idea.

Demos are there to sell games, charge for demo, people dont try game, people dont buy game, people buy other guys game they liked demo of.

mailrewop

i think the way they want to go is to have the paid demo as a smaller version of the final game. so for, lets say a single player story game, they'll release a prequel of the game as a paid demo kinda like a pilot for a tv show and they'll use the paid demo to get feedback.

Nehaxak

I think the DLC is a good business model that can (does?) actually work.
Paid demo's just sound bloody stupid though, can't see any business sense in that other than really pushing the boat in trying to cream gamers and I hope it backfires on them badly.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

DLC is bullshít. So is any other model that is based on charging you full price for a game and then selling you parts of the game every couple of weeks, selling demos, making money and not giving a damn about the consumer. Demo = demonstration. How the fcuk can you charge somebody to demonstrate their products. This is their marketing spin, and now they want to charge you? EA, please, as a company, dismantle. How are these huge developers getting away with making a balls of the gaming industry? Who comes up with these ideas... really are not the brightest.

marco_polo

So instead of paying game testers, get the testers to pay you. Where is the link where I can sign up for this wonderful service.

Helix

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Sounds more to me like they're just selling DLC before the full game release

how did you get that from this:

The PDLC [premium downloadable content] would be sold for $10 or $15 through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and would essentially be a very long game demo, along the lines of 2009's Battlefield 1943

Helix

Ansley Odd Slipcover wrote: »

How are these huge developers getting away with making a balls of the gaming industry?

theyre not the ones making a balls of anything

its the people who are actually paying for this stuff that are the problem

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Helix wrote: »

theyre not the ones making a balls of anything

its the people who are actually paying for this stuff that are the problem

That's very true too, but the idea didn't come from the consumer, it came from one of the dev teams, or publishers. A step in the wrong direction i'm afraid.

Also, for the Xbox demos you now need to have a gold account to play them, but they are still free.

me-skywalker

Ansley Odd Slipcover wrote: »

DLC is bullshít. So is any other model that is based on charging you full price for a game and then selling you parts of the game every couple of weeks, selling demos, making money and not giving a damn about the consumer. Demo = demonstration. How the fcuk can you charge somebody to demonstrate their products. This is their marketing spin, and now they want to charge you?t.

you right!! I bought Dragon Age:Origins on the 360 and while it was a great game in the most part it now turns out they have futher DLC and expansions coming out and already have this planned well in advance. The ending of Origins pissed me off so much and word spread from me to my mates to my other mates that this is what EA are doing and they are fed up with them now too.


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me-skywalker

As said before though I think you either a) take it or b) leave it.... they are going to now try and reduce costs greatly. Ever walk into game shops or video shops and see mountains of games and boxes just left hanging around. Its no wonder they wanna try make sure they only produce and package a certain amount that is needed.

corcaigh07

i dont see a problem, people loved BF1943 and im sure many would buy a full retail version.

Helix

Ansley Odd Slipcover wrote: »

That's very true too, but the idea didn't come from the consumer, it came from one of the dev teams, or publishers. A step in the wrong direction i'm afraid.

Also, for the Xbox demos you now need to have a gold account to play them, but they are still free.

it doesnt matter where the idea came from

its only a viable idea if people pay for it, if they dont then the idea dies - if they do, its a good idea in terms of business so you cant blame the company for pushing it if its working

Stev_o

The problem with using BF1943 as a example is that it's far too vague. If DICE then rolled out the full priced game what inncentive would people who already spent a tenner on the demo get to go out and buy it when they could possibly already have a very good and short game for them. If they incorperated a sort of discount where you get the money you spent on the demo off the full priced game then it could very well work.

Sabre0001

corcaigh07 wrote: »

i dont see a problem, people loved BF1943 and im sure many would buy a full retail version.

I was, and still am, quite happy with arcade version. Three maps, three classes and two modes. Balance!

fifth

Loads of probs with this..

It's a 'low cost marketing tool'. This suggests that producing demos is in fact, cheap. The demos we are used to getting are portions of a full (mostly) complete game which will eventually find it's way to release.(games are costly to produce).

So..by this logic, if they produce demos to see if there is going to be a market for the game, this means (as far as I can tell) that there is no 'game' as such. Therefore the quality of the demo in question may be decreased or be completely unrepresentative of the final version of the game should it get the green light..

Shiminay

Gran Turismo Prolog anyone?

If that wasn't the proof of concept for this sort of thing to work, then I don't know what was

It's clever marketing - if they wrap up some sorta "buy this and you'll get all this exclusive stuff when the full game comes out" deal then they'll clean up.

Of course, if people don't go for it then it won't be a success, but I don't see that happening.

Pity really, it's not a turn I like and it's pretty cynical, but this is the world we live in.

madrab

I remember paying a fair whack to buy the MGS2 demo but at least you got a free crappy game called ZoE with it

landsleaving

madrab wrote: »

I remember paying a fair whack to buy the MGS2 demo but at least you got a free crappy game called ZoE with it

I liked ZoE but I will admit to only buying it for Metal Gear as well... pleasant surprise for me

Polar101

So, if we use BF1943 as an example, EA are planning to release a 3-map version of the game for €13, and then release a full game with 10 maps for €50 a month later. Why on earth would anyone purchase both, which seems to be the idea here?

I don't mind DLC as such. I just bought "Return to Ostagar" for Dragon Age, and thought I definitely got my €3.49's worth. But I wouldn't have bought it before I had the full game.