For a dev like me who has done the research and just wants to find the "impulse buy" price point and sell you the damn game, OUYA doesn't give me the option I need to sell via. Their rationale is that you can make a game demo, then use an in-game unlockable purchase to let the players buy the full game.
OK: Let me tell you something about Demos. They Kill Sales. This is not only my anecdotal evidence, but it's a phenomenon that's actually been experienced by many well received games with demos, and led to less sales than other well received games that don't have game demos. This effect is magnified for cheaper / indie & mobile games (and even applies to Applications, not just games).
It's the same reason why the shareware model isn't such a great model, it's VERY hard to pull off a game demo. You're working against yourself: You have to let the players experience enough mechanics that they don't think your demo is shit, while at the same time contending with the fact that if you give the players enough content to be satisfied with they won't feel compelled to pay for your game -- You miss the impulse sale. They'll think: "Man, that was great, I'm gonna buy this later," then play 50 other demos and totally forget about yours.
What works to drive excitement, curiosity, and thus sales is footage of gameplay -- You want to experience that cool stuff you just saw, you have to buy the game. Oh, but won't someone think of the players?! What if they buy a crap game based on misleading videos?! We already solved this in every damn app store: Satisfaction Guarantee Refunds. You (impulse) buy the application / game, and try it out. If you don't like it you get a full refund. This is BETTER than the demo model because they don't need to wait to download the rest to keep on playing the game if they like it, and if the users hate it they can get a refund. The end result is less work for the developer, streamlined sales, and more customers.
As a developer, I'd just disagree with you. But as a gamer, I just can't put it any other way than simply: fuck you.
You want me to buy your game out of ignorance; you want to omit the demo not because of any problems that would be involved in the creation of the demo, but because otherwise it would allow me to make an informed decision of whether or not I'll actually like the product I'm about to buy, instead of just forking over my cash and hope I didn't make a mistake. I pay you for providing me with entertainment, but you want me to pay even if I will not actually be entertained by it. You know what they call it when you trick people into buying something they do not want, and try to prevent them from making an informed decision?
It's called a scam.Now, there are many valid reasons for not making a demo. Perhaps you don't have the time to make one. Perhaps a demo wouldn't be representative of the full game. Perhaps the amount of material required to be representative would make buying the full game unnecessary. But if you are an indie developer, rather than just some greedy corporate asshat, 'to make sure the customer doesn't find out he doesn't like the game enough to buy it' is NOT a valid reason for not releasing a demo.
I understand your point from a business perspective, detached from morals. But trying to profit by pushing your players into making purchases they regret is despicable.
I, myself, love the Ouya's business model - it guarantees there is always a demo of some sort that I can try before purchasing a game, and it will drastically cut down on the amount of game purchases I regret.
Oh, but what about Minecraft? It was basically a demo while in development, right? Uh, Notch got payment up front for access to the Alpha versions -- It wasn't a free demo.
Then please explain to me how I've played a lot of Minecraft a long time ago despite never having sent a single penny in Notch's way? Back during Alpha there were two versions - Survival mode, which was exclusive to people who pre-ordered, and was the alpha of the entire game; and Creative mode, which was only the building aspect of Minecraft, and was completely free (and you could even host your own private servers for free). People played the free Creative mode, and then paid for the complete experience.
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