What happened to try before you buy?
There was a time when a demo meant something. It wasn’t a trailer. It wasn’t a pre-order bonus. It was a real slice of the game. You played it, judged it, and made a decision. That used to be the norm.
You got them on magazine cover discs or from official websites. Sometimes you’d play the same one for weeks. The first level of Red Alert 2, the first two missions of TIE Fighter, the opening section of Deus Ex. Those demos gave you a proper look at the mechanics. You weren’t being sold something, you were being shown something.
Now? Now demos are either short-term marketing stunts or they don’t exist. You’ll get a “limited-time trial” for a few days around a big event, and then it vanishes. Or it’s a tutorial wrapped in a demo wrapper, giving you a watered-down slice that avoids the bits people might not like.
Sometimes the demo is just a renamed beta. It doesn’t reflect the final game. It’s bugged, locked, and clearly rushed. You’re not testing the game. You’re stress testing the servers.
And if the demo’s good? The final game might not be. You try a promising slice, buy the full thing, and realise that was the only part they polished. The rest of the game is unfinished. Or broken. Or boring. You played the one decent section and paid for the rest of the mess.
Worse still, publishers avoid demos entirely. If a game’s bad, a demo gives it away. If it’s decent but short, a demo might be enough to satisfy curiosity. So they skip them. They drop trailers. They push influencers. They offer refunds instead of previews. Try it, buy it, refund it – that’s the new pipeline.
But it’s not the same. Refunds don’t replace trust. Demos gave you a clear look at what a game could be. They gave developers a reason to make a strong first impression. And they gave players a way to know what they were getting into.
Now you roll the dice. You hope the trailer was honest. You hope the reviews aren’t paid fluff. You hope the game actually works on launch. And if it doesn’t? You get thirty minutes to decide if you’re annoyed enough to click refund.
What’s the last demo you played that convinced you to buy the full game?
