"A free demo is a luxury" says Crytek

http://daxgamer.com/2010/04/crytek-free-demo-luxury/

I don't fully understand what they are trying to say in the article, i mean surely you just take one level out of the game and let people play it.

Wow please no... Games are already starting to charge for that once extra gun (pre order and spend the extra 10$ and get X) but please lets not start this, Crytek is one of those companies that i thought was totally seperate form Activision. Lets hope it stays that way

Lately Crytek says way too much. Maybe it is just me but these things can backfire on them after a while.

Lately Crytek says way too much. Maybe it is just me but these things can backfire on them after a while.

dinuattila

Yeah true that.

I mean alot of what they say is fairly accurate, but then again alot of it is very opinionated. I think they could very easily lose the respect they earned through Crysis.

it makes sense though, that we are taking demos for gratted. They spend a lot of time making the games and then we expect them to just let us try their game for free. Though charging for a demo is a little stupid

So he is saying that having a demo all those years is something that maybe was done all those years, no big deal. But now it takes more resources and ea is doing the right thing, they dont try to increase profits but they believe that they have to give something more than a demo to the game now that the piracy...."insert various other crap"......and try to combat this!! :o

Thats what i understand. That its a random discussion of crytek that makes no sense. Do you wanna give a demo or do you wanna give something more? He said that its right to give the player something more than a demo, yet he intentionally did not talk about paying.

Honestly this sound to me like a random messup. I dont get this crap, why gamedevelopers wanna stop making demos and dedicated servers that were there all those years? If anything the technology is now cheaper.

After all that, do you really believe that paying those idiots is the right thing to do? No we should not buy their games for deciding to do stuff like that. Since if they make big bucks they still not gonna give a damn and continue to make us pay for everything. Now i understand why people complained so much about mw2 and ubisoft drm. Most gamedevelopers/publishers are turning into jerks who dont care about the gamer at all, they wanna make more and more money and have as less expenses by eliminating the free stuff.

Ofcourse there are exeptions like valve that live in their own world regarding timescale and profits...but if this actually happens then expect people to start pirating demos just because they dont wanna try a, say : " 1 hour demo" that costs 3-5 bucks.

Well a valid reason will be that games nowadays are becoming bigger and bigger in data. Just like arma 2 for example that the demo was huge. So its expensive to upload such a big file and provide for millions of people, free to download with high speed.

^That i can understand.

[QUOTE="dinuattila"]

Lately Crytek says way too much. Maybe it is just me but these things can backfire on them after a while.

lucfonzy

Yeah true that.

I mean alot of what they say is fairly accurate, but then again alot of it is very opinionated. I think they could very easily lose the respect they earned through Crysis.

I saw nothing negative in that article. Just a dev saying releasing demo's may be coming to an end due to costs.

Ill make it my goal to boycott every single game that charges for a bloody demo. Movies have trailers, Music has previews of songs. Unlike movies and music games are interactive, you can't base a decision on gameplay footage, you need to feel the controls for yourself. Bad controls and gameplay ruin a game.. and those things can be hidden well in trailers.

http://daxgamer.com/2010/04/crytek-free-demo-luxury/

I don't fully understand what they are trying to say in the article, i mean surely you just take one level out of the game and let people play it.

lucfonzy

Is more complicated. In some games as Oblivion or GTA ones you can't simply "take a level" to let the gamers play for and hour. Then is the problem about that sometimes is hard for a demo to be representative about the full game. Often the demos are bad and discourages the players to buy the game. And above all this problems is the fact that you need time and developers to make a demo, which means: it cost money.

I'll be very suprised if Crysis 2 gets a demo. Half-Life and Episodes doesn't have a demo, nor COD/MW games, or BC 2, or ArmA II, or The Witcher, or Dawn Of War II, etc. In fact, I like more the betas in mp than the sp/mp demos.

A "luxury"? Correct me if im wrong but aint a demo basicly a CHEAP version of advertisment? Instead of spending milions on things they could make a demo and it will do better then a picture saying "omg epic game buy now"

[QUOTE="lucfonzy"]

http://daxgamer.com/2010/04/crytek-free-demo-luxury/

I don't fully understand what they are trying to say in the article, i mean surely you just take one level out of the game and let people play it.

Ondoval

Is more complicated. In some games as Oblivion or GTA ones you can't simply "take a level" to let the gamers play for and hour. Then is the problem about that sometimes is hard for a demo to be representative about the full game. Often the demos are bad and discourages the players to buy the game. And above all this problems is the fact that you need time and developers to make a demo, which means: it cost money.

I'll be very suprised if Crysis 2 gets a demo. Half-Life and Episodes doesn't have a demo, nor COD/MW games, or BC 2, or ArmA II, or The Witcher, or Dawn Of War II, etc. In fact, I like more the betas in mp than the sp/mp demos.

Honestly this sound to me like a random messup. I dont get this crap, why gamedevelopers wanna stop making demos and dedicated servers that were there all those years? If anything the technology is now cheaper.

dakan45

They made a demo with Far Cry, and a mp beta and a demo with Crysis, but not with Warhead. I think that they aren't saying that will made per-pay demos in their future games, but that probably will not make demos at all, and some developers will not made demos and will sell these stuff.

The dedicated servers is a different kind of discussion; some console games uses dedicatd servers, ad most of the PC ones -in multiplayer-. Threre's no discussion about that dedis enhances and improves the quality of the gameplay, it's only that some companies prefer to rely in matchmaking peer to peer due the lower cost.

What I don't understand is how people can pay 15 $ to get the MW2 Stimulous Pack: barely 3 new mp maps and 2 redone ones, when I have more than 100 mp maps from modders in UT 2004 and over 50 in Crysis Wars, aside from the official ones, and all were free. So instead of offering free new stuff to potential buyers in order to attract new customers they prefer to split the community between the ones with all the maps and the others with only someones.

[QUOTE="dakan45"]

Honestly this sound to me like a random messup. I dont get this crap, why gamedevelopers wanna stop making demos and dedicated servers that were there all those years? If anything the technology is now cheaper.

Ondoval

They made a demo with Far Cry, and a mp beta and a demo with Crysis, but not with Warhead. I think that they aren't saying that will made per-pay demos in their future games, but that probably will not make demos at all, and some developers will not made demos and will sell these stuff.

The dedicated servers is a different kind of discussion; some console games uses dedicatd servers, ad most of the PC ones -in multiplayer-. Threre's no discussion about that dedis enhances and improves the quality of the gameplay, it's only that some companies prefer to rely in matchmaking peer to peer due the lower cost.

What I don't understand is how people can pay 15 $ to get the MW2 Stimulous Pack: barely 3 new mp maps and 2 redone ones, when I have more than 100 mp maps from modders in UT 2004 and over 50 in Crysis Wars, aside from the official ones, and all were free. So instead of offering free new stuff to potential buyers in order to attract new customers they prefer to split the community between the ones with all the maps and the others with only someones.

Like i said, they are greedy bastards despite "costs" excuses. Even if they had trillions, still they would keep on ripping us off just because they can. In the past we had dedicated servers but now that the technology is cheaper they prefer to exclude it because simply they dont give a damn. Greedy bastards indeed. I am expecting crytek to receive massive flamming for "whatever" move they decide to do in crysis 2. "Ho do you know what..." I dont but with all those things happened recently , i "expect" something to happen in this case too!!

A free demo is called marketing...

When I'll have my own forum, I'll ban everybody that comments without reading the article and everybody that makes such misleading titles.

I'm getting sick of this tabloid crap on Gamespot, just as I'm getting sick of people calling boycott on everything even if they have no idea what all this is about.

What? Most of those games you listed have demos. Not all, but at least half...LongZhiZi

IW did a demo with MW, but not with MW 2. Relic made demos with DoW 1 and CoH, but with DoW II was only a beta. There's a pattern involving a reduction of the number of games that arrived with demos or edition tools in the latest years. Also, some developers think that a bad demo is a good way to kill sales, and to make a good demo is sometimes hard to do.

[QUOTE="LongZhiZi"]

What? Most of those games you listed have demos. Not all, but at least half...Ondoval

IW did a demo with MW, but not with MW 2. Relic made demos with DoW 1 and CoH, but with DoW II was only a beta. There's a pattern involving a reduction of the number of games that arrived with demos or edition tools in the latest years. Also, some developers think that a bad demo is a good way to kill sales, and to make a good demo is sometimes hard to do.

i really want a demo for crysis 2 , if not i'm not gonna buy it

[QUOTE="LongZhiZi"]

What? Most of those games you listed have demos. Not all, but at least half...Ondoval

IW did a demo with MW, but not with MW 2. Relic made demos with DoW 1 and CoH, but with DoW II was only a beta. There's a pattern involving a reduction of the number of games that arrived with demos or edition tools in the latest years. Also, some developers think that a bad demo is a good way to kill sales, and to make a good demo is sometimes hard to do.

[QUOTE="LongZhiZi"]

What? Most of those games you listed have demos. Not all, but at least half...Ondoval

IW did a demo with MW, but not with MW 2. Relic made demos with DoW 1 and CoH, but with DoW II was only a beta. There's a pattern involving a reduction of the number of games that arrived with demos or edition tools in the latest years. Also, some developers think that a bad demo is a good way to kill sales, and to make a good demo is sometimes hard to do.

EA is just a bunch of money grubbing wh*res!!!

[QUOTE="lucfonzy"]

http://daxgamer.com/2010/04/crytek-free-demo-luxury/

I don't fully understand what they are trying to say in the article, i mean surely you just take one level out of the game and let people play it.

Ondoval

Is more complicated. In some games as Oblivion or GTA ones you can't simply "take a level" to let the gamers play for and hour. Then is the problem about that sometimes is hard for a demo to be representative about the full game. Often the demos are bad and discourages the players to buy the game. And above all this problems is the fact that you need time and developers to make a demo, which means: it cost money.

I'll be very suprised if Crysis 2 gets a demo. Half-Life and Episodes doesn't have a demo, nor COD/MW games, or BC 2, or ArmA II, or The Witcher, or Dawn Of War II, etc. In fact, I like more the betas in mp than the sp/mp demos.

ArmA 2, Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, and CoD 4: MW had demos. The only reason I finally decided to buy Crysis was after playing the demo which was great and contrary to what the haters where saying.

Of course, demos are a luxury. I admire even more companies that take the extra effort to provide one.

A free demo is called marketing...

Mr_Ditters

Precisely. And to Ondoval, you mentioned games such as GTA or Oblivion not having demos because of the nature of the games, how about Just Cause 2? That was an immense demo and I'm sure it boosted sales tremendously. Now imagine if you had to pay for that demo, do you think the game would have done as well?

IMO companies are getting exceedingly greedy, as Mr Ditters said, a free demo is marketing, you are supposed to invest money to make money.

Edit: Typos

A free demo is called marketing...

Mr_Ditters

Depends on the Gamer, Videogame/platform, but for me personally a good demo can motivate to make a purchase. In Crytek's case I'm not sure if it's really that important to distribute a demo for Crysis 2, however for a smaller dev a great demo can be significant to encourage gamers to try it out to decide a purchase(Thanks to Runic Games by releasing a Torchlight demo).

[QUOTE="Mr_Ditters"]

A free demo is called marketing...

lucfonzy

Precisely. And to Ondoval, you mentioned games such as GTA or Oblivion not having demos because of the nature of the games, how about Just Cause 2? That was an immense demo and I'm sure it boosted sales tremendously. Now imagine if you had to pay for that demo, do you think the game would have done as well?

I would gladly pay for such demos. The Crysis demo was also worth paying for.

When I'll have my own forum, I'll ban everybody that comments without reading the article and everybody that makes such misleading titles.

I'm getting sick of this tabloid crap on Gamespot, just as I'm getting sick of people calling boycott on everything even if they have no idea what all this is about.

Baranga

That or help me build my Spaceship.

I will never pay for a demo, period. A demo is not a "luxury." There were free demos for almost every game back in the late 90's and early 2000's. I'm seeing fewer and fewer free playable demos coming out, and it's pissing me off. I've bought more games in the last few years that I regret buying because I didn't have a chance to play a demo first. I think Crytek are absolute idiots for thinking this way. I'm a big fan of Crysis and Warhead, but I don't know if I would've even bought the first Crysis if not for the demo. All I heard were people oooing and awwing over the graphics, but saying that no GPU could run the game right with maxed-out settings. If I hadn't had a chance to play the demo for myself, I might've been discouraged from buying it by all the detractors.

Playable demos are marketing for the dev/publisher, and they get people excited to play your game. There's nothing wrong with them being free, because they end up charging full price for the finished game anyways. Free demos were around before Crytek, and I pray that they're around after Crytek is gone. When I play a demo for an upcoming game, I finish it and want more! You know what I do when I want more? I go buy the full game. That's how it works Crytek.. always has.

A free demo is called marketing...

Mr_Ditters

A luxury? Lol, yeah, and I'll buy a car without test driving it. Demo or gtfo.

Crytek is reeeeaallly pushing it...

A "luxury"? Correct me if im wrong but aint a demo basicly a CHEAP version of advertisment? Instead of spending milions on things they could make a demo and it will do better then a picture saying "omg epic game buy now"

KalDurenik

You are so right...a demo is a friggin advertisement. They have some balls when they start claiming it's a luxury or want to charge for it. Yes it costs them money, but so does most advertisng worth a damn. These developers are getting way too cocky lately. A demo is made to sell their product not as a favor to the customer...they should be saying thank you for downloading it, not acting like they are doing some God like favor to us.

"A free demo is a luxury" ?

Perhaps I can make this statement better.

"A video game is a luxury"

And other would state that "having enough time to play games is a luxury"

Meanwhile, insiders are saying that test driving a new car or perhaps, viewing a home before purchasing is a "luxury" now, because it costs to much time and money to actually try and sell something.

Seems like a entitlement attitude to me.

I always assumedCrytek had a decent amount of autistic people on its staff....I don't think normal human beings are capable of making the crap they make..

Probably have to sacrifice a bit in the "personability" department to get that type of talent.

Why do people keep on thinking that demos are free and cost no money at all?GhoX

We aren't saying they don't cost money to produce, because that would be a lie, of course they cost money to produce, but so does advertisement, companies spend millions on marketing, a demo is just a form of advertisement.

Then again I'm not saying Crytek should give us a demo, because we don't necessarily need one, the point is if they do make on, the chances are they will follow EA and make us pay for it.

[QUOTE="lucfonzy"]

http://daxgamer.com/2010/04/crytek-free-demo-luxury/

I don't fully understand what they are trying to say in the article, i mean surely you just take one level out of the game and let people play it.

Ondoval

Is more complicated. In some games as Oblivion or GTA ones you can't simply "take a level" to let the gamers play for and hour. Then is the problem about that sometimes is hard for a demo to be representative about the full game. Often the demos are bad and discourages the players to buy the game. And above all this problems is the fact that you need time and developers to make a demo, which means: it cost money.

I'll be very suprised if Crysis 2 gets a demo. Half-Life and Episodes doesn't have a demo, nor COD/MW games, or BC 2, or ArmA II, or The Witcher, or Dawn Of War II, etc. In fact, I like more the betas in mp than the sp/mp demos.

You **** about priacy.. now this? Make up your mind do you want MORE pirates? If you have no demo people will pirate to try your game out.

I always assumedCrytek had a decent amount of autistic people on its staff....I don't think normal human beings are capable of making the crap they make..schu

I loled. :lol: Well yeah sometimes i get that feeling too. Seriously sometimes you gotta ask youself do the gamedevelopers really give a damn anymore? Or they completly given up on trying to do their work.