Playable demo before launch?

[V. Soma]

I would like to test my PC if it can run it...

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Very unlikely I would have thought.

 

[Isengardtom]

Do many game companies still do that? Have a demo version I mean. I know many used to but my gaming days go back to the last century

I would wait to buy and check here or other online sources for benchmarks

 

[notNamed]

Do many game companies still do that? Have a demo version I mean. I know many used to but my gaming days go back to the last century

I would wait to buy and check here or other online sources for benchmarks

Depends.
Some do, some don't, some make their demos time-limited to incite people to try or miss out, others add a pricetag on getting early hands-on with the game.

For instance:
Metaphor:ReFantazio has a 6 hour demo.
Dragon Age The Veilguard does not.
Monster Hunter: Wilds just had a public beta close to release (effectively a demo).
Manor Lords had a demo, but only for a limited time at a Steam event.
Age of Mythology: Retold has no demo, had a short public beta, and if you paid extra you could start playing a week earlier.

A game having a demo is always a good thing for the player, but it's one of those things that, at least on PC, isn't required of devs as standard.

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

I sure hope Civ VII has a demo. The demo for VI was what got me hooked on the franchise.

 

[pokiehl]

Demos are rising in popularity, so maybe. Civ 6 got a demo but it didn’t come out until several months after release.

 

[Riconatic]

No questions asked refund policies (even when very limited time) of game market places function as OP asks for from a demo. You can start the game and see if it runs. So no need to do short demo versions.

 

[shaglio]

I remember Civ 5 definitely had a playable demo before the game was released because I played it before purchasing the full game. Beyond Earth also had a playable demo before release because I played it before deciding it wasn't a game for me. I don't remember if Civ 6 had one because I preordered it as soon as I could, so it was irrelevant to me.

 

[V. Soma]

No questions asked refund policies (even when very limited time) of game market places function as OP asks for from a demo. You can start the game and see if it runs. So no need to do short demo versions.

OK, so I checked Steam refund policy:
within two weeks of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime

 

[Riconatic]

OK, so I checked Steam refund policy:
within two weeks of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime

Epic has the same. Civ 7 ia also avalaible there. But not on more lenient refund policy platforms.

Edition. Can I ask your computer specs?

 

[pokiehl]

Increasingly on steam, specially smaller studios. Cynically we can see it as a way of getting better customer reviews by ensuring that only people who like are very likely to like the game but it.

That’s not really fair.

The lack of demos has long been decried as anticonsumer.

Now more studios are letting people play the game without buying it and in many cases carry over progress to the full game, and there’s an insinuation it’s to protect against bad user reviews?

What’s the winning move they can make without drawing unfounded suspicion, then? Give people their full games for free and let them pay if they feel like it?

 

[V. Soma]

Edition. Can I ask your computer specs?

i5-760 cpu and rx-560 gpu (was built for civ6, back then)

 

[chaosprophet]

While it could be interesting, it is always harder to do with a gamer like civ where a match goes on for long and things changes a lot as you progress on the game. They need to come up with a demo idea that don't let a person play the whole game, as it is a demo, but that gives and idea of it all. Hopefully they can make something that works.

But if you're just worried if it will work on your pc, the refund policies on steam and the like tend to work well for that.

 

[Nikolai II]

A demo would be nice, sure. But I don't expect it. It would need to be made carefully, for sure, else it's piracy heaven. Imagine having an entire age, virtually 1/3 of the entire game and due to eras being contained a game in itself, being unlocked. I fear 2K won't risk that.