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Need confirmation: PS3 game demos to cost $1?!

A

antoniogaud

Member
Say it isn't true Sony. Your Japanese games have won me over, but THIS?! From Worthplaying:

Many people were looking forward to Ken Kutaragi's keynote speech to fill in the many blanks, and with only 2 months to go until launch, give details. Unfortunately most of the speech was filled with technical details on GPS, GMS, shopping, banking, networking, and so forth. A few noteworthy things, demos will cost $1, you will be able to download 16bit games (MegaDrive Genesis, and PC Engine TurboGrafx) over the network, and share them with friends. During a short Q&A it was revelaed that the 20gig version will now also feature HDMI, and will receive a price reduction (from 535 to $430) in Japan, as a result of consumer complaints about the high price.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
antoniogaud said:
From Worthplaying:

Many people were looking forward to Ken Kutaragi's keynote speech to fill in the many blanks, and with only 2 months to go until launch, give details. Unfortunately most of the speech was filled with technical details on GPS, GMS, shopping, banking, networking, and so forth. A few noteworthy things, demos will cost $1, you will be able to download 16bit games (MegaDrive Genesis, and PC Engine TurboGrafx) over the network, and share them with friends. During a short Q&A it was revelaed that the 20gig version will now also feature HDMI, and will receive a price reduction (from 535 to $430) in Japan, as a result of consumer complaints about the high price.
Click to expand...

I thought he was speaking in the abstract, but like...who knows WHAT he said really.
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Y2Kevbug11 said:
I thought he was speaking in the abstract, but like...who knows WHAT he said really.
Click to expand...

Seriously... his droning on speech had beat everyone in to submission by then...
 
D

Dahbomb

Member
I HATE the idea of microtransactions... but I would gladly take it up the butt for $1 for a DMC4 demo. It needs to have the playable boss though. :)
 
W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
What's the problem with this? Demo discs costed like $5 to get in the current generation. $1 per demo is nothing. This is a bargain!
 
I

iapetus

Scary Euro Man
To be honest I've been waiting for this to happen on X360 as well. Eventually we'll see companies sure enough of their games that they'll want actual money (or Marketplace points) for their demos. I expected EA to be the first, though. :D
 
P

plagiarize

Banned
Wario64 said:
What's the problem with this? Demo discs costed like $5 to get in the current generation. $1 per demo is nothing. This is a bargain!
Click to expand...
good one!

come up with more entertaining things :)
 
A

antoniogaud

Member
DANG!

First I wanted PS3 - then high price make me no want.

Then Japan games make me want, especially White Knight.

But it seems every time I want to feel good about PS3, Sony does something to make me feel the pain again. I already have a X360 and am getting a Wii, so this is hobby is already costing me much money (just bought NHL07, Okami and Test Drive in the past week). PS3 gaming is so damned expensive...

I just don't know - going back and forth, back and forth... (sigh)
 
Tieno

Tieno

Member
Wario64 said:
What's the problem with this? Demo discs costed like $5 to get in the current generation. $1 per demo is nothing. This is a bargain!
Click to expand...
It is, I pay for advertising, right?


Cue the "if you can't afford that then quit gaming" people
 
D

Dracos

Member
Hell no! A demo is supposed to be something that a developer wants me to play so that I will want to purchase their game. Why do I now have to pay for that form of marketing? Live gives us this for free, as it should be. Uh, hell no.
 
S

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Yeah, Im not interested in paying for marketing. Demos have been free on PC's for years. I understood paying 5 bucks for demo discs.. they had to cover the shipping/manufacture costs and give the store a little something, but digitally delivered demos should be free.
 
R

Ranger X

Member
Microtransaction bizatches. Like it or not.

It's gonna get ridiculous. Next-gen = mostly ridiculous so far. Am cry.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Dahbomb said:
I HATE the idea of microtransactions... but I would gladly take it up the butt for $1 for a DMC4 demo. It needs to have the playable boss though. :)
Click to expand...
I think charging for a demo goes against one of the reasons to provide a demo to being with. Of course, those that are interested or intrigued by a game are going to pay a small fee to play a title they're looking forward to, but what about those that weren't previously interested in a game?

For example, I only downloaded the Fight Night Round 3 demo because it was available and it was free, so I had nothing to lose in giving it a go. Same for Rumble Roses XX. And now I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap copy of FN3. However, if a small monetary fee was required to download those demos, I wouldn't have bothered. And if the point of a demo is to widen exposure, then charging for that experience goes against that and limits it to a certain audience.
 
B

BenjaminBirdie

Banned
Wario64 said:
What's the problem with this? Demo discs costed like $5 to get in the current generation. $1 per demo is nothing. This is a bargain!
Click to expand...

But now they don't cost anything. Personally, I think that's a much smarter model. These are promotional tools after all. No one would expect you to pay to watch movie trailers.
 
A

Arsenal

Member
This cannot be true.

Seriously, this has to be 360 fanboys making this shit up along with the GT microtransactions crap.
 
J

jjasper

Member
Looks like they are going to charge for stuff that is free on live (once you have paid) like the demos in order to make up for their version to be "free".

What else on live is free after you pay? Just to get an idea as to what they are going to charge for.
 
D

Dracos

Member
StoOgE said:
Yeah, Im not interested in paying for marketing. Demos have been free on PC's for years. I understood paying 5 bucks for demo discs.. they had to cover the shipping/manufacture costs and give the store a little something, but digitally delivered demos should be free.
Click to expand...

Yep. And even the single game demo discs have been free. It's like an interactive brochure. Those $5 demo discs were a bunch of game in one, and even then that should have been free with cheaper packaging. If this is true, then omg we are about to get nickle and dimed to death in the next gen. Once again keeping gaming firmly entrenched in the hardcore space. Damn this.
 
R

REV 09

Member
i hate this idea...surely they see how successful free demos have been on LIVE. Saints Row, Fight Night, and Dead Rising are all testaments of this model. It sounds stupid, but some people won't play a demo if they have to pay even a dollar for it. Why should the consumer have to pay for advertising a product??

if this is true, it alone justifies LIVE's price tag. 50 demos is 50 bucks, and i think i would download close to that many demos from live in any given year. your games look excellent sony, but you're potentially dropping the ball here.
 
P

PhatSaqs

Banned
BuddyC said:
I think charging for a demo goes against one of the reasons to provide a demo to being with. Of course, those that are interested or intrigued by a game are going to pay a small fee to play a title they're looking forward to, but what about those that weren't previously interested in a game?

For example, I only downloaded the Fight Night Round 3 demo because it was available and it was free, so I had nothing to lose in giving it a go. Same for Rumble Roses XX. And now I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap copy of FN3. However, if a small monetary fee was required to download those demos, I wouldn't have bothered. And if the point of a demo is to widen exposure, then charging for that experience goes against that and limits it to a certain audience.
Click to expand...
Bingo.

Why the hell would you put a monetary barrier or someone sampling your game?
Imagine walking around the food court and having someone ask you to sample some Orange Chicken for $.50 :lol
 
mckmas8808

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Is the OP wrong? I sounds like Virtual Console games will be $1 in his post, not demos.
 
T

The Innocent X

Banned
jjasper said:
Looks like they are going to charge for stuff that is free on live (once you have paid) like the demos in order to make up for their version to be "free".

What else on live is free after you pay? Just to get an idea as to what they are going to charge for.
Click to expand...

Demos, trailers, game videos, music videos, tv previews, XBLA demos, occasional themes and picture packs. occasional full XBLA games.
 
K

K_S

Banned
Isn't it up to the publisher if they wanna charge for a demo or not? I doubt Sony have any say in that.
 
T

thirty

Banned
Wario64 said:
What's the problem with this? Demo discs costed like $5 to get in the current generation. $1 per demo is nothing. This is a bargain!
Click to expand...

ummmm...because its a DEMO and demos are FREE on LIVE?
 
W

White Man

Member
I can see this probably happening on 360 and PS3. You see how big some of those demos are? Someone's gotta pay for that bandwidth.

Also when you talk about the Saints Row demo getting DLed 200-300k times (or whatever extremely high number it was), you're talking a significant chunk of change at a dollar a pop. You hear devs talking all the time about crazy dev costs this gen. This would be a cheap, pretty harmless way of adding a bit more profit. Bonus cash if the game is still in development. Imagine how much more cash Lost Planet could've had in the development bin?
 
OverHeat

OverHeat

« generous god »
Well if the demo is hosted by Sony....they got to pay for that bandwidth somehow.

Xbox live FTW
 
A

antoniogaud

Member
My guess:

Sony has spent a kabillion dollars on developing the tech for PS3. The PS3 network in itself costs mucho money (ask MS). Price cut in Japan costs Sony more money. Wii threat likely to cut into more money. Shareholders mad.

So, is it likely that Sony is introducing a trojan horse with the PS3? That being that once we all have them, they start charging for many things we expect to be free. We've already seen the Warhawk weapons menu screen (from the e3 presentation) that showed microtransations for weapon and equipment upgrades. yesterday we heard about the GT microtransation rumor...

Me getting worried here... Sony does need to make money on this thing ASAP, right?
 
J

Jim

Member
From the GameSpot translated coverage of the event.

Kutaragi also talks about the possibility of paying 100 yen (about $1) for a small or time-limited game demo.
Click to expand...

So who knows... doesn't sound like it's a proper announcement.
yet :p
 
B

BuddyC

Member
jjasper said:
Looks like they are going to charge for stuff that is free on live (once you have paid) like the demos in order to make up for their version to be "free".

What else on live is free after you pay? Just to get an idea as to what they are going to charge for.
Click to expand...
Except demoes and DLC are also available to Xbox Live Silver accounts, aka the free ones.

Easy access: Xbox Live Marketplace is accessible as soon as you sign on to Xbox Live, whether you're a Silver or Gold Member. Sign in to Marketplace as soon as you're connected and, as you've no doubt heard, your Xbox 360 connects right out of the box! Just plug it into your existing broadband connection and you're in.
Click to expand...
 
J

jjasper

Member
ChrisAllenFiz said:
Demos, trailers, game videos, music videos, tv previews, XBLA demos, occasional themes and picture packs. occasional full XBLA games,
Click to expand...

They give away XBLA games?

Well if that is it then I don't know. I can understand the Demos but I doubt you will pay for game videos (unless it is like a special feature, making of, etc) and any of the other stuff. So who knows.

BuddyC said:
Except demoes and DLC are also available to Xbox Live Silver accounts, aka the free ones.
Click to expand...

Your right, I was just trying to figure out how they they are going to make online multiplayer free. This doesn't seem to be the answer. It might just be rape time.
 
B

BuddyC

Member
Jim said:
From the GameSpot translated coverage of the event.

Kutaragi also talks about the possibility of paying 100 yen (about $1) for a small or time-limited game demo.
Click to expand...

So who knows... doesn't sound like it's a proper announcement.
yet :p
Click to expand...
Ah, the voice of reason. How I've missed you these past few days.
 
Tieno

Tieno

Member
jjasper said:
Looks like they are going to charge for stuff that is free on live (once you have paid) like the demos in order to make up for their version to be "free".

What else on live is free after you pay? Just to get an idea as to what they are going to charge for.
Click to expand...
Wtf? It's not 'free' after you pay, it's FREE. Xbox Marketplace is also available to Silver accounts and not only those who pay for online play. You don't pay a monthly fee for demos and other free content on Live, you pay for online play.
 
K

K_S

Banned
Jim said:
From the GameSpot translated coverage of the event.



So who knows... doesn't sound like it's a proper announcement.
yet :p
Click to expand...

Pay for a time limited demo? :lol

Crazy Ken approved
 
B

BenjaminBirdie

Banned
White Man said:
I can see this probably happening on 360 and PS3. You see how big some of those demos are? Someone's gotta pay for that bandwidth.

Also when you talk about the Saints Row demo getting DLed 200-300k times (or whatever extremely high number it was), you're talking a significant chunk of change at a dollar a pop. You hear devs talking all the time about crazy dev costs this gen. This would be a cheap, pretty harmless way of adding a bit more profit. Bonus cash if the game is still in development. Imagine how much more cash Lost Planet could've had in the development bin?
Click to expand...

I seriously think the numbers would be halved if you added a charge. I download demos all the time because they're free. I doubt I'm alone. I'm not going to pay $1 for something I don't even know will be any good. That is quintessentially the fundamental point of demos. To find out if it's any good, for free (or as a bonus with whatever magazine it's packaged with or whatever) so then you can spend money on it.

Baskin Robins Presents: A Lil' Pink Spoon With Ice Cream! Now Only 25 Cents!
 
K

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
I think worthplaying is confusing something Kutaragi was saying about possibly installing PS3s in retail locations like arcade kiosks and basically charging at those locations for game/demo downloads.
 
L

loosus

Banned
Paid-for Demo. That's got to be an oxymoron. It's like paying for a company's marketing. "No no no, don't worry about it, Sony...it's on me!"
 
fse

fse

Member
from ign:
Sony is considering having the retail kiosks used as arcade-style units, so people can pay 100 yen or so to play a game.
Click to expand...

this is different eh? pay to play kiosk?
 
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