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Crytek: free game demos to go extinct

April 17, 2010 in News comments 17

Whose ready to start paying for video game demos or doing without? That's what Crytek CEO, Cevat Yerli, sees in his magic crystal ball. Would you pay to test drive a game?

Crytek has been talking up a storm since they announced Crysis 2 last week. We've heard the man behind the story of Crysis 2 knock Halo and Modern Warfare 2 and CEO, Cevat Yerli, talk about which game platform Crysis will run best on. Now Yerli predicts the end of the free game demos that gamers have become accustomed to having.
Queasy1 via examiner.com »
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  • 2
    Red 9 Apr 17, 10
    Well he can go to hell. There is no way in hell I'm paying extra just to get a taste of something. That's bullshit.
    • 1
      Queasy1 Apr 18, 10
      Hey, it worked for Gran Turismo: Prologue.
      • 0
        Red 9 Apr 18, 10
        Yeah, but Prologue is a lot more substantial than a common demo. GT5P was practically a small game on its own. Hell, it was for sale as a full game on PSN.
        • 0
          Queasy1 Apr 19, 10
          Well, to be fair, Yerli was saying that the demos would have to be more than what we are getting for free currently.
  • 0
    Deception Apr 17, 10
    Uhh that's that's stupid The whole point of a demo is to attract attention so people can find out for free whether or not they want to buy it.
  • 0
    Aussie Legend Apr 18, 10
    Damn, who knew Crytek were such big mouthed douches.
    • 1
      Daweii Apr 18, 10
      No more big mouthed than any one on Neoseeker, we all make big claims and say shit from time to time. The only difference is unfortunately for Crytek the questions they are getting asked by journalists have answers that are published. We need to remember Crytek are new to this both Crysis and Far Cry were small on publicity, Crysis 2 is the first game they have ever made that has them doing all this publicity, they simply aren't used to it they are gonna make mistakes.
      • 1
        Aussie Legend Apr 18, 10
        Yes I realize that, although I don't wholey let them off the hook for that. Surely someone in the company must have some sort of people skills and able to handle an interview without bagging at least 3 more successful franchises/companies). No matter how right he is its just a bad idea from a business sense, and it makes them come over as arrogant and douchey (which I'm sure they're not).

        This is what I define a 'demo' to be:

        "A demo is a small portion of gameplay which helps the user make an informed decision whether or not to purchase a game."

        Making us pay to formulate an opinion is just ludicrous (especially when we could just go to youtube and pretty find just as much), and is one way ticket to pissing people off.
      • 1
        Euphoric Apr 18, 10
        Any company put in a situation where anything they say is scrutinised to the enth degree like this should have a PR department. It's obvious when companies don't and it is entirely their own fault. Being "new" is not an excuse for failing to enact a very simple business marketing principle.
  • 0
    Ech0ez Apr 18, 10
    That would only do more harm than good. If developers charged for demos, consumers would just get their "demos" through alternative means that are far more likely to hurt sales.
  • 0
    Hideo1 Apr 18, 10
    On the one hand I can see his point; on the other it's a stupid point.

    For things like FF13 or GoW3 devs can afford to do shit like 'buy this or don't get the demo', but it won't happen for every game; it would hurt them more than us.
  • 0
    Star of Spurs Apr 18, 10
    Wow, just when I though Game Publisher's couldn't get MORE greedy.
  • 4
    Silent Storm Apr 18, 10
    "A free demo is a luxury we have in the game industry that we don’t have in other industries such as film."

    What the hell do they think a trailer is?
    • 0
      Tenken Apr 18, 10
      Gaming industry has trailers too..
      • 0
        Hideo1 Apr 18, 10
        The average film is between one and a half hours and two hours long. The accumulative time of the unique content in each trailer added up is around four minutes, considering there are usually two for the big, important films.

        The average game would be around fifteen hours, and even then those with online are usually MUCH longer. The average demo is around half an hour long.

        A game trailer is akin to knowing who's going to star in a film in terms of experience, in this respect.
        • 0
          Seproth Apr 18, 10
          Not to mention you watch movies, as you watch trailers. Watching a trailer of a game gives you no idea what the game plays like.
      • 0
        Red 9 Apr 18, 10
        quote Tenken
        Gaming industry has trailers too..
        Yeah, but you don't play movies in the same way you play games...

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