Demos: Are They Good?

 

More than just about anything, the downloadable demo has defined the current console generation. Suddenly we can try all sorts of games before we buy them. Pick up an Xbox or PlayStation, and you could squeeze a solid hundred hours out of the system before even spending a cent on download or retail games.

So, are demos here to stay like analog sticks, or will they go the way of the Sega console and disappear for good?

Over at the MTV Multiplayer blog Stephen Totilo reported on a policy shift that took place on the PlayStation Network late last year. Apparently, companies who wish to post content on the PSN are now required to pay bandwidth costs. At 16 cents per gigabyte, it might sound cheap at a glance, but the costs can stack up when millions of people are downloading your 1500 megabyte demo.

Talking to friends who prefer the PlayStation 3 over the Xbox 360, one of the first arguments that comes up is that they don't have to pay for the PSN service. With almost identical libraries, the online service has become one of the main decision makers for people on the fence about which console to buy.

So, if you're an Xbox user, you don't have to pay unless you're interested in multiplayer, and you have access to all the same content that Gold members do, albeit a bit late. On the PSN side, there is no subscription pay structure or set of benefits.

 

 

Sony informs developers of the new charges.

 

There are clear advantages to each side, but the question I have to ask is, will charging publishers to put their content online discourage them from doing it? On 1UP's ListenUp podcast, the crew discussed this week the question of whether demos are an advertisement or not. In many cases, the demo can in fact discourage an immediate purchase of the product, if not discouraging it altogether. The idea is that if you weren't already planning to buy the game, the demo will sate your appetite, letting you delay the purchase by a few months in favor of something more immediate.

I experienced this personally with LucasArts Star Wars: The Force Unleashed last year. A game I'd initially been excited about turned from a must-buy into a buy-later (and then into a rent when the reviews came out, but that's another story). So if the demos are less advertisements and more rewards for the pre-established fans, and the demos are actually costing the publisher money, will they continue to put them online?

Obviously, the big name titles that actually get demos will still get them, but I think this is going to make the Preorder Bonus Demo a more appealing prospect to publishers and developers alike.

I don't think, this early in the year, that the effect has quite hit gamers, but I'd be curious to see if the frequency of demos decreases as time goes on with the policy changes on the PSN and the general knowledge that demos do not, in fact, move retail boxes.