Great change imo. The new & trending tab feels a lot more useful now that it isn't 50% demos.
To imagine there was a long time games didn't offer enough demos anymore, and now we get so much that they need to be filtered ๐
this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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It's the current Steam publishing meta. A free demo will create traffic for the newly created Steam page of your game, resulting in more Wishlistings, which is usually the only way to be featured and seen anywhere before release for indie developers. And that's how your Wishlistings really explode and you make a lot of sales. Getting a demo out is by far highest priority for game publishing in 2024.
Hell yeah. Valve is making consumer friendly practices the industry meta!
This is why console demos are so rare anymore.
Try before you buy means fewer sales on launch day.
Informed consumers are careful with their money. And that's bad. Apparently.
When your core gameplay loop is all of 15 minutes long that feeds into a 40-60 hour repetitive grind to unlock a slightly better item, new title or recolored cosmetic, combined with a complete absence of quality or competent writing, innovative mechanics while it's apparent most of the budget went into marketing and pre-rendered cutscenes that can be just watched on youtube, yeah it's bad to give potential customers a 30 minute demo that displays everything your game is without hinting any additional benefit for purchasing the full game.