Ok, so I bought both a PS4 and XB1 in the last couple weeks. I enjoy both of them to various degrees.
However, one thing that I've noticed about both of them, is that demos of games are few and far between. On the Xbox 360 and PS3, you'd often see a demo of most of the big games, and many indie games would also have demos. In fact, demos were so commonplace, that both online stores would have a seperate area just for the demos. You could go into the store and then click on demos, and you'd see all the demos available.
It struck me as a bit odd that neither the Playstation Store on PS4, or the Xbox Store on XB1 have any section called "Demos". Those sections don't exist right now.
Now, there are a couple of ways of looking at this situation. The optomist, would say that the reason we don't have a specific demo section, is because these systems are so new, and there aren't enough demos to justify creating a whole seperate section just for the few demos that do exist. As more time goes by, eventually there will be more demos, and both Sony and Microsoft will create a specific "demo" section for their online stores, like it has been on PS3 and 360.
The conspiracy theorist on the other hand, would say that the reason there isn't a special "demo" area of the store, is because there are no plans to have a "demo" section. It's not because of the lack of demos, rather, the lack of demos is because Sony and Microsoft are no longer interested in providing all this free content. I think there was a study done by EEDAR (or whatever the name of that company is), that showed that demos actually cause more harm than good for publishers. Is it possible that Sony and Microsoft both agree with this stance ? Demos don't sell games, they just cause people to cancel purchases that they would have made otherwise.
What do you guys think is going on here ? Is it just a bit early to have tons of demos available or is something more sinister at work ?
However, one thing that I've noticed about both of them, is that demos of games are few and far between. On the Xbox 360 and PS3, you'd often see a demo of most of the big games, and many indie games would also have demos. In fact, demos were so commonplace, that both online stores would have a seperate area just for the demos. You could go into the store and then click on demos, and you'd see all the demos available.
It struck me as a bit odd that neither the Playstation Store on PS4, or the Xbox Store on XB1 have any section called "Demos". Those sections don't exist right now.
Now, there are a couple of ways of looking at this situation. The optomist, would say that the reason we don't have a specific demo section, is because these systems are so new, and there aren't enough demos to justify creating a whole seperate section just for the few demos that do exist. As more time goes by, eventually there will be more demos, and both Sony and Microsoft will create a specific "demo" section for their online stores, like it has been on PS3 and 360.
The conspiracy theorist on the other hand, would say that the reason there isn't a special "demo" area of the store, is because there are no plans to have a "demo" section. It's not because of the lack of demos, rather, the lack of demos is because Sony and Microsoft are no longer interested in providing all this free content. I think there was a study done by EEDAR (or whatever the name of that company is), that showed that demos actually cause more harm than good for publishers. Is it possible that Sony and Microsoft both agree with this stance ? Demos don't sell games, they just cause people to cancel purchases that they would have made otherwise.
What do you guys think is going on here ? Is it just a bit early to have tons of demos available or is something more sinister at work ?