Every Game should have a demo It helps to sell games.

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Every game on steam that I have tried that had a demo I ended up buying and enjoying.

For me demos leads to sales.

The 2 hour refund is NOT intended to be used as a demo system and you WILL get a warning from Steam if you try and use that feature.

Also it takes 24 hours to return funds to steam-and up to 7 days back to your creditcard.

I have purchased many games over the past decade, about 15% now abandoned and about 15% I just utterly hate.

But of all the games I enjoy, about 25 to 35% of them had demos. And about 15 or 20% of the ones I like alot did not.

Some times, a trailer doesnt do the game justice.


Now I know some games only have 2 hours worth of gameplay so a demo wouldnt be fair to them normally.

The demo doesnt have to be long. It can be a 10 minute demo.

Demos allow gamers to see how it looks and runs on their own systems, if the game matches what they want.


I know this will never happen but it should. I mean hell, they dont even need to make a demo.

All games on steam, 10 to 15 minute trial.

That is more than enough to see if it works on your Ultra wide 21:9 displays

More than enough time to see if you an get 60 or more fps in 4k max settings.

The idea of the demo isnt really to decide if the game is fun for you, its to see if the game runs well, looks well, and I am sure if it does, the fun factor will follow in.


Reason most people refund steam is due to performance issues.

Anyway, just my Friday night rant and thinking.

Go ahead, tear it down people, tell me why this wont work :D

Enjoy the weekend everybody!

[potato]

this isn't up to valve/steam so this "suggestion" cannot be implemented

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Początkowo opublikowane przez potato:

this isn't up to valve/steam

It could be, if they wanted it to be, They could easily time gate a 15 minute lock or a 10 minute lock. But yeah, I understand what you are saying.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

Początkowo opublikowane przez potato:

this isn't up to valve/steam

It could be, if they wanted it to be, They could easily time gate a 15 minute lock or a 10 minute lock. But yeah, I understand what you are saying.

Valve encourages demos very heavily but won't require them due to how they can eat up time/money for the devs.

[potato]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

It could be, if they wanted it to be, They could easily time gate a 15 minute lock or a 10 minute lock. But yeah, I understand what you are saying.

no they can't, not without publisher's permission

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Początkowo opublikowane przez potato:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

It could be, if they wanted it to be, They could easily time gate a 15 minute lock or a 10 minute lock. But yeah, I understand what you are saying.

no they can't, not without publisher's permission

If steam was to make it apart of their store policy. Steam didnt allow ANY refunds back in 2010. They later added them-mainly because of laws over in EU-so they started offering refunds for all steam users.

Massive policy change is possible. Just doesnt happen often.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

Początkowo opublikowane przez potato:

no they can't, not without publisher's permission

If steam was to make it apart of their store policy. Steam didnt allow ANY refunds back in 2010. They later added them-mainly because of laws over in EU-so they started offering refunds for all steam users.

Massive policy change is possible. Just doesnt happen often.

Refunds were possible back then, it just didn't have a clear policy that people could read.

[potato]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

If steam was to make it apart of their store policy.

they would lose a whole lot of money as publishers won't put their games on it

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

Steam didnt allow ANY refunds back in 2010. They later added them-mainly because of laws over in EU-so they started offering refunds for all steam users.

not the same thing

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Początkowo opublikowane przez cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

It could be, if they wanted it to be, They could easily time gate a 15 minute lock or a 10 minute lock. But yeah, I understand what you are saying.

Valve encourages demos very heavily but won't require them due to how they can eat up time/money for the devs.

:winterbunny2023:

Agreed, so a perfect middleground, one that doesnt take any time or money from the devs, would be a time gated 10 minute Performance Test.

After 10 minutes of testing, the game would just stop working and give you a error that you need to purchase it. Kinda like when trying to access a dlc you dont have.


I know demos take time and money and a solo dev cant do that always.

So time locking the main game to 10 minutes would allow alot of people to know what works. without giving them a free accessible game.

Devs get more sales, steam gets more profits, we have less risk of refunding a bad purchase.

On paper it sounds like a win, In reality, I agree, unlikely ever to happen.

[Mad Scientist]

Those making the games get to decide if they make a demo to offer for people to play, seeing as how "NextFest" is fairly popular, some Devs do like to make Demos or "Prologues" for their games, while others prefer focusing on the primary product itself to prepare for sale, rather than two things usually completely independent from each other.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

Początkowo opublikowane przez cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Valve encourages demos very heavily but won't require them due to how they can eat up time/money for the devs.

Agreed, so a perfect middleground, one that doesnt take any time or money from the devs, would be a time gated 10 minute Performance Test.

After 10 minutes of testing, the game would just stop working and give you a error that you need to purchase it. Kinda like when trying to access a dlc you dont have.


I know demos take time and money and a solo dev cant do that always.

So time locking the main game to 10 minutes would allow alot of people to know what works. without giving them a free accessible game.

Devs get more sales, steam gets more profits, we have less risk of refunding a bad purchase.

On paper it sounds like a win, In reality, I agree, unlikely ever to happen.

You basically described the new wave of "demo" types on the store called "Prologues."

We don't need more of that.

And devs/pubs don't mind refunds. That is already accounted for in their projections. Just abusing the refund system to demo games is something Valve doesn't take lightly.

[potato]

prologues are a plague on my discovery queue now

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Mad Scientist:

Those making the games get to decide if they make a demo to offer for people to play, seeing as how "NextFest" is fairly popular, some Devs do like to make Demos or "Prologues" for their games, while others prefer focusing on the primary product itself to prepare for sale, rather than two things usually completely independent from each other.

Thanks to the demos on Next Fest, I bought 3 more games haha. Demos lead to purchases. I swear it!

[RTX 5080 FE(Mr Happy)]

Początkowo opublikowane przez cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Man Cave Mike:

Agreed, so a perfect middleground, one that doesnt take any time or money from the devs, would be a time gated 10 minute Performance Test.

After 10 minutes of testing, the game would just stop working and give you a error that you need to purchase it. Kinda like when trying to access a dlc you dont have.


I know demos take time and money and a solo dev cant do that always.

So time locking the main game to 10 minutes would allow alot of people to know what works. without giving them a free accessible game.

Devs get more sales, steam gets more profits, we have less risk of refunding a bad purchase.

On paper it sounds like a win, In reality, I agree, unlikely ever to happen.

You basically described the new wave of "demo" types on the store called "Prologues."

We don't need more of that.

And devs/pubs don't mind refunds. That is already accounted for in their projections. Just abusing the refund system to demo games is something Valve doesn't take lightly.

:winterbunny2023:

Alot of games claim they support 21:9 but dont. Any game that didnt natively support it I refunded(I am not back to 4k and normal 1440p displays)

but I went to war with valve, got a 2nd warning from them, and I told them in no uncertain terms, if the game dont support my monitor, Ill refund it every time-dont like it, then change your policy.

And I would get a reply back about carry on, just dont abuse it.


21:9 and 32:9 isnt as popular as 16:9 but it is growing and 90% of all my refunds were due to lack of resolution support.

Początkowo opublikowane przez potato:

prologues are a plague on my discovery queue now

Yeah, I dont want more of those lol. I was thinking somehow to time lock 10 minutes of the actual game to test performance. But I know it is not likely to happen,

This thread is fueled by 2 cans of Ghost Energy Drinks:P I tend to get really social and chatty when I consume caffeine lol

[Brian9824]

Again though many games I play your idea is completely unworkable, the first 10 minutes or even 30 minutes is often setting up the story and not really giving you a feel for the game.

Also developers don't like being "FORCED" to offer things. its how you drive them away from your store. Its very easy to see what games are like these days because you can literally watch people playing the game.

[Reuben]

Valve already recommends this sort of thing, it's up to the publishers whether they do it or not though.