Problem is that a demo doesnt capture the essence of a full size game and can actually hurt game sales.
Developers haven't learnt the art of creating a good demo. IMO if you have the right product and right demo, you'll attract buyers. the only reason you can scare them away is if your demo sucks or your game does. Developers producing sucky games hoping to turn a profit by blueless people buying them on a chance
deserve to go out of business!
You can't be serious. TV shows in a box are very expensive. Watching TV episodes as it airs is free. So of course fewer people will buy the box set compared to those that watch the free episodes.
If you don't have access to a TV series through your free channels, you ahve the option to try them out through a box set, but AFAIK no-one does that. I don't know anyone who will buy DVD box sets on a chance. Even people who don't subscribe like myself, who ahve the option to buy a box set of a series I know nothing about, I won't do it. If
Heroes or
Dollhouse weren't showing on terrestrial TV, I wouldn't ever watch them, even though I have the option of buying a box set for £40 and then selling it on if I don't like it. That's not a way people experiment with their TV programmes. I don't know how gaming compares, whether people do buy with one on on the resale if they don't like it, but even if they do, that's not typical behaviour for media and I don't think consumer
expect to be able to sell their content on after using it; certainly not to the degree that they will refuse to buy without the resale option.
I preordered Uncharted 2 from amazon for $55 and got a 20 dollar credit as an incentive. Do you honestly believe you could get a deal like that if the only place you could buy games was from the PS store?
No, and in the long run I expect DD to cost more per title. But bare in mind a lot of deals can be damaging for business overall and introduce instability. eg. The supermarkets in the UK sometimes sell games at less than cost to attract customers. The game retailers can't compete with this. But if every shopper sought only the special deals and didn't succumb to other sales, no money would be made on selling games. Basically consumers would pay nothing for everything if they could, but then the whole world would collapse. Everything has an inherent cost and people need to pay it, one way or another. So games may increase in price, certainly for those who are used to bargain-basement budget deal-hunting, but I think the system could be balanced that people spend smarter. There's no need to find a game you might not like at a bargain price with one eye on the resale, if instead you can try everything, know if you like it or not, and are being asked a fair price for it knowing if that's out of your price range now, you can wait six months and get it cheaper.
eg. You buy a bad game for $50 with a $10 deal, losing $40. You sell it on for $25, costing you $15 net so far. You try a second game, repeating the experience. $30 spent so far. You then find a great title for a cost-price $40 at launch. In total you've spent $70 on games to find one you want. In a DD world, you could have every game costs $60, no special offers and no rebates (which there would be to some degree, I'm sure). You try a demo of the first two games and dislike them. You play the third game and love it. The cost to you to own is $60. Overall you've spent less then with the trial-and-error approach and have avoided the hassle of reselling, while the console companies and publishers get a bigger piece of the pie. The only people hurt would be the retail chains and their 2nd hand market. Some shrewd gamers would feel the pinch, failing to pick up clearance titles, but I think it'd be better for the industry overall.
