Many demos and free games are downloaded by people who have no intention of purchasing it, which is okay." One takeaway to keep in mind is that a high number of demo downloads and wishlists from demos may not convert to sales because of one key factor - it's free. "Demos can also increase your game's exposure and visibility, as gaming press and streamers can share your game with their audiences to drive traffic to your Steam page. "An early demo might prevent you from investing everything you got in making the wrong game" Michael Schade, Rockfish I suspect if you left a demo up all the time that it wouldn't really influence wishlists much. I've always timed with some sort of event and usually the wishlist numbers grow exponentially for the week that the demo is up. If you've managed to nail the demo experience, then you can expect to have an increase in wishlists. "Demos that have technical issues or are too long may have a negative impact on wishlists. "There is a positive correlation between demos and pre-orders and wishlists, but only when the players' experience with the demo is positive," Van Lepp says. To use as a marketing tool to drive wishlists and visibilityĪ demo can positively affect the sales of your final product and its visibility - it's a type of promotional content that can drive pre-orders significantly, as well as coveted Steam wishlist sign-ups."And knowing people's reaction to that so we could tailor how we describe this on the Steam page, how do we make sure we have good trigger warnings and so on - that became very important." "The end of our demo is a father getting killed in front of his family," explains co-founder Astrid Refstrup. Gathering feedback is particularly important when your game deals with heavy topics, as is the case for Triple Topping's narrative-driven adventure Welcome to Elk. Having a demo allows a developer or publisher to estimate how the final product will be perceived by its main audience, and receive feedback that they might not get otherwise. ", online demos may be the only way for a developer to provide the public an opportunity to play their game" Alex Van Lepp "Sites such as itch.io provide opportunities for discoverability that can help people to find a demo." "With physical events cancelled for the foreseeable future, online demos may be the only way for a developer to provide the public an opportunity to play their game," Van Lepp says. To help the community discover your game and give feedbackįirst and foremost, having a demo will help the gaming community to learn more about your game in a way a trailer can't, and allow you to reach a wider audience.Resident Evil 7's demo, Kitchen, was instrumental in selling the game to an audience that had somewhat abandoned the franchise Why you should make a demo When to make your demo and when to release it."The better you understand the different objectives of having a demo, the better you will be able to decide if you need to create one, when to release it, and how much effort you should put into making a compelling demo," says Michael Schade, CEO and co-founder of Rockfish Games. Is it about getting feedback from fans, media and content creators early in development, driving pre-launch wishlists, or convincing a new audience after the game's launch? Do you see your demo as a development tool, a marketing tool, or both? Understanding what you want to achieve with a demo is a very important first step. " should outline some specific objectives and KPIs for their demo, such as garnering player feedback, increasing wishlist numbers, or securing a platform deal." "I've only seen benefits in having a demo," says Alex Van Lepp, marketing director at Graffiti Games and partner at VIM Global Consulting, which provides marketing support to studios. "The better you understand the objectives of a demo, the better you will be able to decide if you need one" Michael Schade, Rockfish Some demos even become successes of their own, like Kojima Productions' PT, a prototype for a then cancelled Silent Hills title. While the quality of the game undoubtedly played its part, the demo also had an important role in introducing a wider audience to the title, which ended up selling six million copies.Īnother example would be Resident Evil 7's demo, Kitchen, which was instrumental in selling the game to an audience that had somewhat abandoned the franchise.
It ended up being downloaded two million times in just two weeks. By then, Just Cause 2 had been announced and Avalanche Studios decided to release a demo. It took almost three years for the title to sell just one million copies. When Just Cause launched in 2006, the game's critical and commercial reception was mixed. Just how instrumental demos can be to a game's success is often underestimated by new developers.
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