A while ago we talked about how game demos were seen as not being anywhere near as effective as trailers, and it seems a few developers are taking that to heart. Both Epic Games and Bethesda have come out to say that no demos are forthcoming for their respective titles, Gears of War 2 and Fallout 3.
Talking about Fallout 3, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said it was impossible to provide a demo of such a huge game world:
“When you build it as one thing, there’s no way to portion off a section and have it stand on its own without putting the whole game in the demo, which we’re just not going to do … And it doesn’t really capture the fun of a game like an Elder Scrolls or a Fallout, where you can go where you want and do what you want. So no demo, sorry.”
Fair enough. Both Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 would be first day buys in my book anyway, and I trust Bethesda and Epic enough to not feel like a demo is truly necessary. Still, I hope too many other, less trustworthy developers don’t follow their lead. Demos have saved me from a number of purchases in the past, and I’d hate to lose that safety net altogether.
