Editorial: Wii Needs Demos (by Robbie P.)
December 13, 2010, by Robbie P. - Demos for the newest games have been standard practice in the gaming industry for many years. Nintendo has dabbled in the world of demos offering up little snippets of its newest games at gaming expos, and even a couple of demos for the Gamecube. Within the last year, Nintendo decided that they would offer demos for its Wiiware service. This is something fans have wanted since the Wii was announced to have a download service. With these demos fans would be offered a small taste of the game they may purchase in the future. We're now one year from the initial run of Wiiware demos, but how did the test run go? Well it seemingly went very well. Most Wiiware titles seen a sales increase that they might never have if it weren't for the decision to release a demo. Allowing demos for any game will definitely increase the exposure it receives, and the added possibility of new customers.
Nintendo is continuing with Wiiware demos again this year featuring four brand new titles. Seeing Nintendo step up to the plate and allowing developers the opportunity to release a demo for their Wiiware game is good for business. However, Wiiware demos aside, the practice of releasing a demo for console games is a practice that is lost on the console side of things. While we do have some Nintendo DS demos on the Nintendo Channel, we have yet to see Nintendo release any demo disc in an official capacity. The big question is would Nintendo benefit from releasing demos on the Wii?
Before answering that question it's important to recognize what other developers have been doing with demos on the Wii and then reviewing the impact it had on the respective game. As most Wii owners know by now, Capcom released a demo for its epic Action/Adventure RPG series, Monster Hunter. Capitalizing on a missing avenue for Wii games, Capcom provided free demos of Monster Hunter Tri to gamers across North America, and had previously included a demo a year earlier in Japan. Whether gamers would get the demo through Gamestop or even directly to their doorstep, gamers would be certain to get in on the action early. Providing a demo was done to introduce a game that was more heavily loved in Japan to both an American and Wii audience. Doing this would give gamers a chance to check out a series they've never played, and then decide if they would like to purchase. So, how did this demo campaign fare for Capcom? Monster Hunter Tri did combined worldwide sales of approximately 1.8 million copies. This is a pretty good figure for the series considering the fact that it's not on the PSP handheld. Other developers such as Hudson Soft and Activision have released demo discs for the Wii as well. Games such as Deca Sports, Help Wanted had demos and an Activision 5 demo action pack including Big League Sports and Monkey Mischief.
Now you would think that releasing a demo is a good thing, but that's not always the case. When a developer releases a demo of an average to below average game, they are essentially allowing you to sample their crap and I'm positive most gamers prefer not to play with crap. Therefore the demo may have a reverse effect from the one intended. Gamers will not buy the game and in fact it may sell less than original sales projections. In fact, I played the Hudson Soft Help Wanted demo and decided that it was far from what I was looking for in a game.
Nintendo could possibly benefit from releasing demos, and so could other developers. If I was to take a guess at why Nintendo doesn't release demos for their games, it would be because they are usually of high quality and gamers are already hooked for the purchase. I think demos on the Wii is more important for other developers and Nintendo could surely help out by releasing a Wii Demo Channel perhaps, or even offering demos on the Wii Shop Channel. It would be difficult to offer demos for download because of the large file sizes, but why not stream the demo? That would certainly solve the low storage space issue on the Wii. I don't think it matters at this point what avenue is chosen for demos, the fact remains that it is a missing element of the Wii console. All the big developers get to release demos on other platforms, so why not on the Wii?