News EA to create paid-for demos

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2010/03/23/ea-to-create-paid-for-demos/1

 

I just imagine a bunch of guys in suits sitting around going: 'so, what do they get for free at the moment, and how can we get em to pay for it?' They'll be trying to charge for patches next. 'An extended DLC version with additional bug-fix features' anyone?

 

lol que? They are going to release game demos (which in my experience have been free since I was born) for a fee? Ha, good luck with that working.

 

lol, amazing the stupidity some companies go on with.

 

Pay? For a demo? It's not April fools day yet!
Demo's are free so you'll try them and then buy the game if you like it. Making people pay will reduce the number of people trying the demo and therefore less people will buy the game.
EA really do live on a different planet when it comes to keeping people happy. First SecuROM, now this.

 

I don't think they'd be crazy enough to charge for standard demos. Maybe something like the standard demo is free, but you can pick up a triple length demo for £10. I can actually see there being quite a market for people desperate to get there hands on as much of a game as possible as early as they can.

 

Oh, very clever. SO: £15 for the demo, £40 for the "full" game; £10 to unlock content that is already in the "full" game you bought; £5 - 15 for various DLC packs.

Well, I most certainly will not be buying, thank you very much.

 

They plan to "extort" money from console players now. But I think it's only matter of time before they'll apply this for PC players too.

 

a fiver to be able to play one season on Fifa
or a fiver for the first 3 levels of AVP
or a tenner for one month on the multiplayer of BFBC2

i may consider that as £30 for a game that is getting mixed reviews / im not sure whether i would enjoy is a little too much

 

its always worked for Gran turismo, why wouldn't it work for others.

 

Demo, short for 'DEMONSTRATION', to give the customer a chance to try the product BEFORE buying.

This really takes the biscuit. Come on EA, your reputation is already that of an evil, soulless corporation. You don't need to continually hammer it home every week with some new dastardly act!

 

also how many games have you bought that you have not played past the first few levels because you didnt like it

i have bought supreme commander , WiC , Stalker, Fear2 to name a few if i could have bought a £5 - £10 cut down version i may have saved £100.

hell who would have bought hellgate london after trialling the multiplayer for a week

 

This would be great if it worked as a meaningful pre-order. Currently the incentive to pre-order is very low (usually extra reward card points and a very small DLC pack) and many people, myself included, think the whole notion of it is pointless as you don't pre-order other media - so why just games?

But, say you paid £10 for a long demo with multiplayer features which was then subtracted from the full game price if you choose to buy it. Now that could be interesting as customers would feel like they have some type of buyer protection as well as value for their money.

 

"Are you sure you want to remove the selected program and all its features? Please select "yes" and insert your Credit Card number below to continue. Or press "Cancel" and enter your Credit Card info below."

 

People laugh at how 'stupid' EA is for doing this. EA didn't get to the position it's in by being stupid.
The stupid ones are those morons driving the market who *will* buy into this.

 

The whole point of the demo is to paint the perfect picture and experience of the game about to be released. If it's a pleasurable experience then more than likely, you'll go out and buy the full game upon release.

By coming out and stating they intend to charge a fee for a demo, it must mean that EA have nothing but dross to release for the foreseable future. They are cashing in now as they realistically feel they are going to be making losses on future game releases.

Would you still be interested if they discounted the full version by the cost of the demo you have already paid for? Personally, no.

 

No, I never paid for demos. I used to buy the Official PlayStation magazine for its enlightened content (long before there was ever such thing as "DLC" on consoles)...

Oh, and read this line in the article; "None of the proposals...call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos." You'd be getting *extra* content for your hard-earned wadge, not paying for something you already get for free.

 

I would simply NOT pay for/play the game until i see the appropriate score on metacritic or comparable.

In all honesty, a Demo being chargeable is silly. But then, I haven't played a single Demo since Forza 2 - so I'm really not too worried.
As for pre-release DLC that's paid for - that's really a bit like charging you for 0-day fixes... and it's bound to fall down somewhere along the line...
Think DLC not working with the game, etc.

 

I hope EA notices the only people who haven't said "NO!" to this idea outright are all suggesting one of two things; that the buyer might save money by not purchasing the full version of bad games (EA loses), or that the price of the demo might be subtracted from the full retail (EA gains nothing).

Based on the responses here, 100% of people are against this idea. Sadly, they'll likely make a lot of money out of this, and soon every publisher will be following suit. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest Activision as the next company to try something similar...

 

Let's hope Activision doesn't see this. Kotick will be angry because they didn't think of this first.