this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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In terms of piracy, I wonder how much could be prevented by having demos, like Factorio does
Demos used to be everywhere back in the day! I think they have a huge impact, because it's a way to try to play a game without dumping all the money on it without knowing what the gameplay is like and if its actually fun.
When I was a kid, DOOM having the first episode of the game available as shareware was huge and I used to walk to my friends place after school and watch him play until he would get bored and let me play for a while.
From an old interview in 1999 with John Carmack about this very subject (emphasis mine):
Funny how Steam has been making sales and events around demos for a while (called Next Fests) and some games absolutely blow up out of nowhere thanks to them.
Also some people think FF16 having a demo was some weird, oddball marketing move by Square Enix, except they have been making "try now, continue later" demos for games since Bravely Default.