Fully functional demos will never be popular

Are you a Pirate?

Let me start by saying that Mount & Blade is a great game, but regardless of the fact that the demo is essentially the full version of the game, it is still heavily pirated.  M&B is a Medieval RPG, if you didn’t already know. The game has a very interesting and challenging combat style, and it has been praised as having the best horse combat ever.

A great thing about this game is that the demo version of this game is fully functional. You get the entire game– the full map, all the character creation features, all the weapons, everything.  The only limitation is that you are capped at character level 4.  You get a nice taste of the game playing the demo, and can really get into it.  If you decide you want the full version, just buy a code and activate.  Your saves will continue to work, and you can keep playing the character you have been working on. Why then do people pirate this game?  It is simple, they think that games have no value.  It is sad to see an independent developer struggle because people are greedy and cheap.  I don’t know how well Mount & Blade has sold, but it does seem to invalidate the arguement that people often make, ‘I pirate because there is no demo’ or ‘the demo is too short to get a feel for the game.’

Mount and Blade is a great Medieval RPG.

Taleworlds did a great thing creating such a demo. Unfortunately, big developers will look at the piracy rate of this game and say “Why should we bother with a better demo, it won’t reduce piracy.” It is a shame that people are so unscrupulous that they would steal (yes, even though it is a digital copy it is stealing) from such a small game developer who worked hard to produce a retail version of a game that has been in development for 5 years.

The hidden story here is that the excellent demo for Mount and Blade has undoubtedly increased sales of this game. A good demo can have that affect, and a limited full version of the game can do even more. People remember notable demos. I remember downloading the demo for The Need for Speed on a 14400 modem. The demo for Crysis led me to buy the game and a new video card. The lack of a demo for Mirror’s Edge has me waiting to buy until I can play it in person, and confirm all the good things I am hearing about it.

Personally, I bought Mount and Blade only because I played (and had fun with) the demo, and I have greatly enjoyed it. I also know quite a few people who purchased it only after enjoying the demo, and likely would have never played it if there had been a less intriguing demo version. A fully functional demo that gives players a real feel for a game can do great things to promote a game, but it is doubtful that the corporate minds of the publishing world will see it that way. If only more companies would follow Valve with their ‘free weekends’ on Steam. Maybe the sales they make after such events will encourage more similar behavior from other publishers.