5 ms·

I think more will play if quickly trying out games was easy. E.g. I wanted to try out Doom Eternal yesterday without having to buy it first in case I didn't lik

I think more will play if quickly trying out games was easy. E.g. I wanted to try out Doom Eternal yesterday without having to buy it first in case I didn't like it; couldn't find how to do that and gave up after 20 mins.

mstade 6y ago
I did some research into this when I worked for Improbable a few years ago, and back then it was remarkably difficult to try out games without going through a full purchase and refund cycle, which in many cases was hit-and-miss and could actually get your account suspended in some stores which has tremendous impact since this is also tied to your online gaming persona. Since then I know some stores have loosened their policies and allow for a certain number of hours of game play within which you can get a full refund, and others have a time-since-purchase kind of limit. Back in the day when shareware was a thing it was much more prevalent with game demos, but that was also before game consoles really took over. Then physical stores made a difference, where you could go and try out a game before purchase, but of course those aren't really much of a thing anymore. My conclusion of the research then was that most games are simply not built with a demo in mind. It's more common these days for games to front load the introduction part of the game, often a tutorial, so that you can start playing before the game is fully downloaded, but back then it wasn't very common. This could work as a stand-alone demo and I know a few games that does this – Tomb Raider for example – from which you could then unlock the full game and download the rest. But it was (and might still be) an exception to the norm. My opinion is that online stores can and should put pressure on game devs (and engine makers in particular) to enable customers to play a demo of a game before committing to a purchase. It might not work for all kinds of games (particularly ones without single player elements) but I reckon it ought to work for a majority of them.
- meheleventyone 6y ago
  This comes from the industry abandoning making demos available because they would hurt sales figures. There's been a recent resurgence in making demos over the last six months though.
  - mstade 6y ago
    I'd like to see research to support the sales hypothesis. I've heard it before as well but never seen any actual data to support the argument. It's also a really tricky thing to research, given triple-a developers typically don't like sharing much.
ShamelessC 6y ago
FWIW, Steam allows you to return any game if you have played less than two hours of it.
bspammer 6y ago
Xbox Game Pass is like Netflix for games, you pay a small subscription each month and get to essentially rent hundreds of games. Sounds like it might be what you're after.
- curiousmindz 6y ago
  And with the xCloud integration, you won't even need to download the game. You can hit play and be in the game right away.
- noisy_boy 6y ago
  Unfortunately I don't have an xbox (kids at home so worried of addiction) and play very occasionally. I wouldn't mind for a service that allows to rent a game short-term e.g. 5 hours for a dollar - cheap and long enough to try a game without any extra hardware/commitment.
  - bspammer 6y ago
    In classic Microsoft terrible-at-naming-things fashion, you can get Xbox Game Pass for PC. I'm using it to play the new flight sim.
johnchristopher 6y ago
You could buy it on steam and as long as you only played it for less than 2 hours they should reimburse you. I know it's not a good old demo.

mstade 6y ago

I did some research into this when I worked for Improbable a few years ago, and back then it was remarkably difficult to try out games without going through a full purchase and refund cycle, which in many cases was hit-and-miss and could actually get your account suspended in some stores which has tremendous impact since this is also tied to your online gaming persona. Since then I know some stores have loosened their policies and allow for a certain number of hours of game play within which you can get a full refund, and others have a time-since-purchase kind of limit. Back in the day when shareware was a thing it was much more prevalent with game demos, but that was also before game consoles really took over. Then physical stores made a difference, where you could go and try out a game before purchase, but of course those aren't really much of a thing anymore. My conclusion of the research then was that most games are simply not built with a demo in mind. It's more common these days for games to front load the introduction part of the game, often a tutorial, so that you can start playing before the game is fully downloaded, but back then it wasn't very common. This could work as a stand-alone demo and I know a few games that does this – Tomb Raider for example – from which you could then unlock the full game and download the rest. But it was (and might still be) an exception to the norm. My opinion is that online stores can and should put pressure on game devs (and engine makers in particular) to enable customers to play a demo of a game before committing to a purchase. It might not work for all kinds of games (particularly ones without single player elements) but I reckon it ought to work for a majority of them.

meheleventyone 6y ago
This comes from the industry abandoning making demos available because they would hurt sales figures. There's been a recent resurgence in making demos over the last six months though.
- mstade 6y ago
  I'd like to see research to support the sales hypothesis. I've heard it before as well but never seen any actual data to support the argument. It's also a really tricky thing to research, given triple-a developers typically don't like sharing much.

ShamelessC 6y ago

FWIW, Steam allows you to return any game if you have played less than two hours of it.

bspammer 6y ago

Xbox Game Pass is like Netflix for games, you pay a small subscription each month and get to essentially rent hundreds of games. Sounds like it might be what you're after.

curiousmindz 6y ago
And with the xCloud integration, you won't even need to download the game. You can hit play and be in the game right away.
noisy_boy 6y ago
Unfortunately I don't have an xbox (kids at home so worried of addiction) and play very occasionally. I wouldn't mind for a service that allows to rent a game short-term e.g. 5 hours for a dollar - cheap and long enough to try a game without any extra hardware/commitment.
- bspammer 6y ago
  In classic Microsoft terrible-at-naming-things fashion, you can get Xbox Game Pass for PC. I'm using it to play the new flight sim.

johnchristopher 6y ago

You could buy it on steam and as long as you only played it for less than 2 hours they should reimburse you. I know it's not a good old demo.