It is great to see downloadable content finally hitting the console game market. The PC world has been leading the technology for demos and purchases but things will be changing in 2007.
Giving people a taste is going to lead to more sales (especially since these are $50 and not exactly impulse purchases) and more hard data on consumer tastes and behavior. Taken together, they should allow publishers to improve their profits and products.
Downloadable Game Demos Get Test
THQ Uses Xbox Live, Discs To Let Console Gamers Try 'Saints Row' Before Buying
August 23, 2006
Videogames publisher THQ, on the cusp of one of the splashiest new videogame introductions of the year, is about to see how effectively it can use the Internet to let gamers try before they buy.
Downloadable demos of games for personal computers have long been common because so many PCs are connected to the Internet. Now, demos of console games, which make up the bulk of the market, are becoming more common because of a growing push by hardware makers like Microsoft to connect consoles to the Internet.
At the beginning of August, THQ posted the demo of "Saints Row" on Xbox Live, the online game service that 60% of the more than five million users of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console use to play games on the Internet. At the end of the demo's first week, users had downloaded 350,000 copies, the most ever on Xbox Live for a one-week period, and the downloads now exceed 500,000.
"Demos are our No. 1 purchase-influencer," says Kevin Kraff, global brand director for "Saints Row" at THQ.
Indeed, Microsoft's own research shows that roughly 40% of those users who download a game demo from Xbox Live end up playing the final version of the game, most of whom likely bought the game in stores. Since Microsoft began selling the Xbox 360 last November, publishers have posted about 40 game demos to Xbox Live, adding one or two fresh ones to the service a week.
Like other publishers, THQ was eager to build buzz before "Saints Row" came out because it helps to stimulate pre-orders of games, a highly useful tool that gives publishers a good clue of how many copies of a game they need to manufacture. Likewise, pre-orders indicate to retailers how many copies of a game to order. "It helps them with forecasting how big a hit they have on their hands," says Aaron Greenberg, group marketing manager at Microsoft's Xbox Live.
Analysts say THQ's strategy has helped to get retailers enthusiastic about selling the game to customers. "There's a lot of different ways to create buzz, but downloads and demo discs are two things in combination that have helped 'Saints Row,'" says John Taylor, an analyst at Arcadia Investment.
