Square Enix has hit on a brilliant system for doing demos, and come up with something that people will not only pay for, but actually want to keep them on the system after they buy the full game. I’m talking about Dissidia Duodecim Prologus – one of the smartest stunts I’ve seen the Japanese publishing giant pull to date.
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Like the article! Even back when I first reported on Prologus, the idea of a PAID demo seemed almost impossible to me.
Remember back in the early days of the original PlayStation? You'd get a free disc with the system, without a whole bunch of demos; some were actually playable, some were simply videos. It was neat to have, but I can't see myself paying for that.
What Square-Enix is doing here though, you summed up perfectly when you said "the demo doubles as some pretty decent DLC." Sure, it doesn't encourage you to actually pick up the demo if you don't already hold interest in the final game, but it does a much better job of getting you invested once you actually play it by doing that.
Thanks very much!
I agree that in concept a paid demo is crazy, but I honestly think that if this particular demo had the normal amount of content, I certainly wouldn't have bought the full version of the game.
Square Enix did a similar "transfer data from the demo to the full game" with that Monster Hunter clone of its. It's a good idea, and if the demo provides enough content to be compared to, say, a Mini, then why not charge for it?
Precisely! Worst case scenario, you've got yourself a pretty decent downloadable game, so why not?
When you're talking about a Monster Hunter clone, I assume you're referring to Lord of Arcana? I reviewed the full release just recently, in case you're interested.
(Oh and, my original comment was supposed to say "You'd get a free disc with the system, WITH a whole bunch of demos." My bad!)