I recently completed the short demo of the new EA/DICE game Mirror’s Edge. It’s a first-person parkour run-jump game that is done very well. I’m looking forward to it.
What struck me as interesting from a sales perspective was that there is some locked content in the demo. The only way to access the content – a bonus time trial level – is to pre-order the game and enter an unlock code. Some may look at it as evil. That it is content that should have been available in the demo for anyone to access. They would be wrong though.
This is a slick trick and is likely having a positive pre-sale effect due to the strength of the demo. The game runs and looks great and will leave a lot of gamers looking for more. If they are willing to part with their money early then they can get more. It’s right there waiting for them.
I can’t say whether or not this is an original marketing gimmick or not. When tied with a strong demo though I have to imagine it works well to drive up pre-sales for the title. Having more pre-sales in turn can drive up shelf space at brick and mortar retail locations which will likely result in more sales down the line due to extended presence in stores. Well played!
I liked how the Castle Crashers demo ended when you were about 3/4 of the way through beating the first boss character. At that point the game stopped and gave you the option to buy. I don’t think it is anything new, but something about having almost already beaten him seemed to make a little more push to buy it. That being said, if it was a crap demo, I wouldn’t have bothered and I don’t think this tactic made up my mind for me, but it was just a little extra nudge.
That’s cool, I actually hadn’t heard of a game stopping at a time like that for the buy screen. It’s like, “hey you’re having fun, right? why not have even more fun for $10!”
Definitely though, if your demo isn’t great something like that is more likely to cause the user to turn the game off instead of purchase it.