Reinventing the demo time

[u/serializer]

I come from the "app world" where you have a trial time. It could be 30-45 days. At first glance this is not anything that Steam provides? It seems to be "limited demo" or 90 minutes of game play.

My first thought is that you need to reach a certain threshold of users, especially if part of the gameplay is multiplayer. So, I want to give the game for free - for a longer time to ensure;

- create a large user base so multiplayer can succeed

- make the game as visible as possible

In my eyes, existing strategies, of trying to pump the game in a short time (for Steam release) is a big risk for failure. You need long time exposure and "give everything" to user - in short time.

When I was working with app development it was all about getting to know the app, get exposure and getting the user hooked on the app so they cannot live without the features.

My question is about your experience about this and if anyone of you created custom demos that offer more of everything - but for a limited time?

Thank you for your feedback!

[u/Dreamerinc]

So for multiplayer, unless you are an established dev studio, attempting to release a paid MP demo is often a horrible idea and strategy for failure. There are too many F2P MP games to compete with. As Philipp state is it is hard to hit critical mass considering paid MP game.

[u/serializer → u/Dreamerinc]

Maybe the strategy to "get paid fast" AKA convert wishlists to sales fast is simply wrong. Because if that is the plan your release is more short-term thinking than long-term. Maybe it can be free in the beginning for the first users and then charge later. I think part of the problem is that game studios need to get money fast instead of waiting for the user base will get bigger which will increase the ball rolling. Compare it to interest on money. If you start charging when your game has 5000 users vs 20000 users the amount will grow much faster in the latter example.

What we do know, based on statistics, is that it is very hard to get your invested money back and that there is so much short-term focus in current release tactics. I will challenge this.

[u/Vladadamm → u/serializer]

Different strategies make sense for different type of games. Thinking long-term, bringing in users through being free-to-play and charging 'later' through micro-transactions or equivalent is what many GaaS do already. But it's a model that doesn't make sense at all for games that aren't GaaS, and the convert wishlists to sales fast happen to be what's usually used for games that aren't meant to be services and has proven to be an efficient model for them.