Hmmm are there still services that allow you to rent games? I used to love doing that, especially games that I was on the fence about.

There is Gamefly, RedBox, but outside of that and Mom & Pop owned physical rental stores, I think most mainstream ones are online based.

Nice! Gracias

I don't know why most do it, but I seem to recall seeing an argument put forth by Extra Credits that putting out a demo is somewhat risky for the developer--even (and perhaps especially) if the game is excellent.

i too have seen the episode you speak off, and they are all valid points. but i've also found that demos that consist of the first level(s) of a game are not that hard to make, are greatly appreciated by the users, and help cut down on "false positive" sales to folks who can't run it or don't care for it. think of all the hassles no man's sky could have avoided with a free demo to dis-spell false expectations.

i've only had to process something like two returns EVER in the entire history of Rockland. i credit that largely to urging the users to try the demo first. it pretty much guarantees the full version will run on their PC, and offers pretty good assurance they will be pleased with the full version.

help cut down on "false positive" sales to folks

But that's exactly the point - a large proportion of sales are 'false positive', at least as far as saying that not every purchase (of games, films, movies, shows, etc) lives up to the expectations. And developers can't afford to give up that revenue.

think of all the hassles no man's sky could have avoided

It didn't have any hassles. Players may have been disappointed by the game. But they would have been disappointed by the demo too, so what's in it for the developers? They would put in extra work and get far fewer sales. (Plus, it's hard to effectively give a demo of a procedurally generated game; all the content is already included.)

but i've also found that demos that consist of the first level(s) of a game are not that hard to make, are greatly appreciated by the users, and help cut down on "false positive" sales to folks who can't run it or don't care for it.

On the other hand, the first few levels of a game aren't always its strongest. In at least some cases, these are the levels in which the player is weakest, and has the fewest available options. For example, a first-person shooter might offer only one or two weapons in the first level; an RPG might only see the player level once or twice, if that. One could use a later level--but then the player wouldn't have those first few levels in which to learn the mechanics, and might find the experience overwhelming, and thus off-putting.

For an anecdotal example, I recall being unimpressed when I played the demo of the original Deus Ex. Part of this may simply have been my own perspective: I was young, and perhaps at the time less experienced in assessing a game by its demo. That said, the first level of that game is perhaps one of its weakest, and not a great demonstration of the game's strengths--the NPCs aren't terribly interesting, the story hasn't yet opened up, and I don't think that there are many--if any--upgrades available (unless I'm forgetting a change made for the demo).

But that's exactly the point - a large proportion of sales are 'false positive', at least as far as saying that not every purchase (of games, films, movies, shows, etc) lives up to the expectations. And developers can't afford to give up that revenue.

i've always used demos, therefore i've never relied on revenue from false positive sales. the LAST thing i want to do is make a false positive sale. that's not the way to build a good rep with your user base. i've typically offered discounts of 50% to users of previous major versions of my games. imagine 50% off on the next elder scrolls cause you bought this one.

nobody seems to get it...

you don't want to sell games to people, you want people to subscribe to your games!

"the easiest sale to make is selling something to someone you've sold to before".

you want a rabid fan base itching for the next version. and a whole stable of products. and you should reward your fans.

deliver the minimum value you can to the customer, and you may make one sale. deliver the maximum you can, and you may have a customer for life.

its better to sell $20 per year over 5 years than it is to sell $50 once over 5 years.

Rockland has always been about providing a good value to the customer and building long term customer loyalty. if i hadn't stopped and re-started the company three times now over the last 27 years, i'd have a massive user base waiting for my next release.

But they would have been disappointed by the demo too, so what's in it for the developers?

not having to process returns? less bad press? no thinking "oh! we're rich!", only to discover that have to give a lot of it back?

(Plus, it's hard to effectively give a demo of a procedurally generated game; all the content is already included.

it doesn't have to be. demos can make use of a limited subset of assets. with the rest of the assets not included, both to reduce download size, and as an anti-crack measure.

demo versions typically take me a week for a big game, and demo vs full version is controlled by a single #ifdef at the top of the source file. stripping assets does require two different scripts for Inno Setup. and two different batch files to copy the desired files to the temporary directory used to create setup.exe files. i copy everything to a temporary directory and then simply tell Inno Setup to include everything in that directory.

I recall being unimpressed when I played the demo of the original Deus Ex.

sounds like they just didn't make a good demo.

the demo is supposed to whet the player's appetite to the point where, when they reach the end and get the sales pitch (IE what you get above and beyond the demo, and at what price) , they say "h*ll yes! here's my money! gimme it NOW!" <g>. this is where providing value to the customer helps. lots more stuff for not too much money. works most every time for folks who are truly potential players of your game.

and that's what you want, folks who will play your game - love it -, rave about it - TELL THEIR FRIENDS! and play the next version, and the next... and with every version you're building a larger user base for your IP.

a solid reputation is critical to long term success in any industry.

I think one question is, would someone who paid for a game be more likely to give it a second chance if they don't find it to their liking than someone who didn't pay for it? If so then hopefully you have more people that come around to liking your game than the ones that don't like it and are disgusted at having paid for it. For something like a $2 puzzle game this might be a reasonable risk to take. For something like an epic simulation RPG, it may be too big a risk to take.

you don't want to sell games to people, you want people to subscribe to your games! "the easiest sale to make is selling something to someone you've sold to before".

The one that I heard was that you should sell services, not products.

While these ideas are are true you still need to appeal to the people that have never played your game before. The preferred modern day way to do this, over providing demos, appears to be to use videos of gameplay. This address the issue with only making the first level or so where you might not be exposed to the meat of the game that lies somewhere in the middle. Whichever way you go about it, the whole point is to tantalize the prospective player enough to part with his money while not giving away so much that he feels as though he's seen it all and doesn't bother.

sounds like they just didn't make a good demo.

And yet, as I recall, they did just what you suggested: the demo was the first mission of the game.

Now, perhaps the first level of Deus Ex isn't a good level (this isn't necessarily so, but let's presume that it is for the sake of argument). I feel that this doesn't do much to hurt the rest of the game because it's a fairly small portion of it; get through it and the game immediately starts displaying more interesting elements. However, when used as a demo, it's all that a player has to go on, potentially resulting in a somewhat-poor impression.

I won't say that demos are never good--there have been a few that have gotten me interested in games. I do think, however, that they're a rather risky proposition, and won't necessarily provide a fair picture of their parent game.