All over Twitch, about half the streamers I usually watch playing turn-based strategy games are all suddenly playing the same new game. I watched a few streams, and it looked interesting. Normally, I never buy games when they just come out because I have such a backlog and can wait for a sale, but I figured if everyone (figuratively) is playing it, it must be amazing.
Turns out, they’re giving the full game away for free during their “early access” phase as a “demo”. But it’s the full game, just with only 2 class choices.
I had a blast! And now I’m probably going to buy it on release.
The last time I remember doing this was for Minecraft. I see lots of games doing free weekends on Steam, which is very similar; doesn’t work well for me since I only have a few hours for gaming each week, but I imagine that must be successful for a lot of games, too.
What do you think of that business model? And/or, what do you think of Backpack Battles, if you’ve played it?
Thanks for suggestion. I checked the trailer, but I don’t think it’s worth for me to try the demo. It’s just not my type of game.
I myself addded 3 games to my wishlist after checking out the demos on steam this year. First one was manor lords back in march. then came Pagonia and enshrouded in october.
I am sure that releasing demo versions of games can make a difference. Many studios lack the financial power do do months-long marketing campains. Many players are even bored by such campains are are more impressed when they can get their hands on an upcoming title instead of having to watch the same trailer 50 times on youtube or in commercial TV. Many gamers do even avoid platforms as twitch or tiktok, and can’t be reached by avldvertising via this platforms.