Why aren't there more PS4 game demos?

Why aren't there more demos for new releases on the PS4?

I've noticed that only some games have them, both indie and not. So, why not have them for all? I think in the case of "Child of Light", there should be one. I'm not much a fan of RPG type games, but this one looks interesting. I just don't want to waste my money to find out it's not something I'd like. Sometimes, it's hard to just go off of reviews online.

Did Sony ever comment on why they don't have more demos out now?

Good question.

I guess demos can be Sony's friend or enemy. Demos can encourage someone to buy a game, or turn them off completely (in which case they might've bought the game had they not played the demo). For that reason, Sony have to carefully pick which games have demos and which don't.

Just a guess.

I honestly understand where your coming from, and once upon a time every game had some sort of demo even GTA, my other rant against the PSN store, is how disorganized the store is, I mean the old PS3 one used to give me a dedicated tab for all demo's and now it's just there, someone needs to sort the shop out so it can function with ease.

on topic, the problem is it isn't Sony who has the say, it's the developers on whether they want to make a demo portion for you or not, it isn't as simple as just blocking a bit of the game off, they basic have to make a completely different separate code, don't blame Sony blame the developers who don't feel the need to give us demo's anymore.

Not that many PS4 games yet to begin with I guess.

@bezza2011:

Okay, I blame the developers then. lol

I'm just thinking it would be such a good move to have more demos for newer games coming out. I know the Xbox 360 was very good about doing this and I've bought a lot of games that I probably wouldn't have if not for the playable demo.

@jasean79: I agree there are a few games i'd like to play demo's of just to get a feel of them but there isn't, maybe in time we will get them, but for developers at the moment time is money and they want money and demo's take time so you never know what will happen.

according to studies, demo's make games sell way less. So i understand them for doing it, but it also sucks. It does cost companies money to make them though, so keep that in mind

But how much money?

Take for instance on the PS4. They have "king oddball" which I believe is an indie title correct? There is a demo available for that game. Now judging by what I've seen of it (Angry Birds style gameplay), there's no way a title like this would be popular amongst the general gaming population. So, if what you say is true, then they're actually kicking themselves in the butt twice - they're losing money in that not a lot of people would buy the game to begin with and losing money because they made a demo for a game that not a lot of people would buy to begin with. I don't know, maybe those developers are risk takers and hoping that they'll get lucky?

It's a pretty significant amount, it was discovered during DICE conference last year where someone revealed it

Maybe just my perspective, but I do feel I had a lot more demos available for me when I first got the PS3 a few months after it launched. I was able to try out some of the big launch titles such as Resistance Fall of man which convinced me to buy the full version of the game.

Blame the publishers, they have more say than the developers. Regardless, I miss the days of bountiful demos. If Stryder didn't have a demo I wouldn't have known how much I liked it.

Demos are long gone, like physical media will be soon.

@BattleSpectre:

Demos are still digital, so they should remain, no?

Just using an example, I meant just like physical media will soon be dead, so will game demos.

What about releasing a demo after the game has been out for a while? Take a game like Knack, I have no idea how well it sold, but now that it is probably past its top sales at least, release a demo and maybe get some new people to buy it

This video might be relevant:

We still have family video near me. So I just rent it.

To push their Playstation Now rental service of course.

Because companies choose not to release demos. It's up the publishers and some publishers go for it, some don't. It's a very risky proposition for companies, oftentimes not worth the effort. Blame the majority of game buyers.

I can explain why, but it takes too long, but just know companies/publishers are deciding on it, not Sony.

@The_Last_Ride:

I think production costs is the biggest reason.

Demos are big sizes these days, I guess that doesn't help.

I hope not I love buying discs over digital content.

Demos are pretty much dead. Even reviews to base buying decisions on are less common now with some half-witted marketing clown coming up with the brilliant idea to slap review embargos on everything so you have to preorder and hope the game isn't crap. Amazingly some people still fall for it instead of just waiting for reviews. Lots of comments on here 'I preordered this game I think it will be great' based on absolutely nothing but empty marketing hype.

Publishers have become more greedy, gamers have become more stupid.

Maybe for you that's the case, but not statistically mate

He's pretty much a compulsive liar and spends his whole time trolling these forums about how crap X1 and PS4 are. So yeah... pinch of salt for anything he says.

What I am getting tired of is when the PSN lists a game as a NEW DEMO and then once clicked, it is either a pre-order for the game or the actual game. This is in my opinion, one of the worst versions of PSN I have seen.

@blueinheaven:

AMEN Brother!!! Gamers are the stupid ones for buying games digitally without being informed how good the game is with game play videos and not over hyped trailers. I used the system and if Sony will not supply great AAA demos I will find a way. I will buy a used game from gamestop with the 7 day return policy and get my money back if the game is crap. I will rent from Redbox(although the PS4 games are limited but they tend to have AAA games). I have used the 30 day trial from gamefly like I did when I rented infamous for a month.I will also try to get my hands on Betas which is another way of playing a demo Whatever it takes to play games for free before giving away $60. I do buy digital games for $10-15 only when i am sure this is my type of game and will play it forever like Pure Pool and I bought Valiant Heart knowing I just wanted something different.

I just wrote a post informing my people here that BestBuy has LBP3, Driveclub and Infamous First LIght as demos among some indie style stuff. Why can we at least get LBP3 to make up for Driveclub not available to the PSN+ members like myself? I played Driveclub(free) with the gamestop used game policy but would have kept it if the servers wasn't poop.

I am just saying the CLOWNS are people who don't do their research and read up on the games they buy and stop preordering games coming out a yr from now. THAT IS VERY STUPID. I love Uncharted series but will never preorder a yr out from the release nor get a AAA game digitally and stuck with if its garbage. I want physical copies of most of my games for resell if I choose.

I do feel reading reviews help you determine the worth of the game at least how the game controls or all the content we get or if the game is a series and they fixed the things people complained about. I agree the score of reviews aren't the most important thing but its the content that matters the most. Embargo are becoming extremely common these days and no one can tell me this was AS common as back in the day. Now you see game sites getting copies from stores to give us reviews ahead of time. Advertisers are banking on us not relying on reviews and cant wait to get the game then once we open that wrapper from a store or download that digital game its OVER. Your money is down the window. Take that new physical copy back to the store and lose more than half of what it is worth. Now you got to depend on craigslist to get some cheap punk to give you a fair value of the game.

IF YOU GET THE POINT BY NOW USE YOUR BRAIN GOD GAVE.