It does say that. People skim over it. They’re just only thinking about not wanting to spend money themselves, they don’t care how much work a game is to make, or that the people making it need money to keep doing their work.
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I was unaware; I previously waited until release date to look for a demo, which in my case was not necessary, since I try to support everyone on release day, as much as I can.
Having the release dates updated as much as possible certainly helps as well, since I budget my game purchases in advance.
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I find the demo’s particularly helpful.
At first glance I didn’t have high expectations for Road to Canterbury that appealing. The demo however showed it to be an excellent mix of stat driven and character focused narrative featured in the majority of my favorite titles.
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Yeah I get that. Some of the reviews are related to the fact they downloaded and it wasn’t free, but others are complaints that they were cut off after reading the free sections and can’t finish the game (even though the first page makes it clear that it’s pay to play more than the demo section,) so a comment in the description would probably help with some but not all the negative reviews.
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That’s what I tried to say (without much success), it would not end with all the negative reviews but maybe some.
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I’d say they would increase sales. I would be never played some of my favorite COG and Hosted games had it not been for a demo. They get people to download them and while some may be upset that they have to pay to get the rest others will already be invested in the story and wanrt to buy the rest.
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Well. I can’t promise particular release days at the moment, but we’re working on releasing a new game (those listed on Upcoming) every other week for the rest of the year. I.e., we expect to and are hustling to get another 13 games out between now and January 1. (Yes, I know there are 16 more games on the list.)
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There have often been murmurs about demos hurting game sales, but these studies are often marketed and weighted by a game industry that does its best to suck you in with preorders, season passes and other schemes that serve to make sure they’ve gotten their money before you’ve even decided whether you like the game. The chief concern of companies that push this narrative isn’t to sell games, but to recieve money.
Demos help sell games, especially games that would otherwise fall through the cracks. The free weekend for Crusader Kings 2, for instance, brought thousands more players’ attention to an incredibly niche feudalism simulator, and many of those players ended up buying it. Did everyone who tried end up buying? No, but they saw it, tried it, and likely told a friend who would buy it to try it.
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Yeah, I’m not quite sure why CoG don’t include the whole “You can play the first however many chapters for free and purchase the rest for however much it costs” part in the store page’s description. 
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It says that when you download and open the game…
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I wonder how many people just skim when they read the description.
And that’s when people get a hemorrhage over it not being free. 
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“But you don’t need money, you get exposure.”-Someone who doesn’t understand how reality works.
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If how people approach beta testing in the threads is anything to go by…
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Does the author determine the length of the demo (I would think so?), is it the CoG staff, or someone else?
The author chooses where the demo ends, at least with HGs.
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@Koda222 It’s not anything you can skim. There’s literally two buttons: Play x Chapters now for free and another button saying Buy It. You can’t proceed to the game without selecting one of them. So people do ignore it, play the demo, then review it badly.
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And if one were to write “demo” in the title (as i think the title can be changed upon unlocking) they’d complain where the full version is.
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Honestly that wouldn’t surprise me. Those reviewers always seem to find something to complain about, no matter how minor it may be.
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I’d like to playfully suggest the following three buttons:
- Buy It Now
- Buy It Right Now
- Purchase This Game
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