Great change imo. The new & trending tab feels a lot more useful now that it isn’t 50% demos.

  • PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    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 😂

    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      Shovelware demos are useless.
      I remember the time I played the demo for farming sim and DOA:Dimensions to death on my 3DS. Those were actually good demos.

      • PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Yeah it doesn’t compare to old-school demos like stuff that came on discs with magazines, but at least it’s a lot better getting the option to try something instead of buying and refunding everything. And at least some bigger studios and indi games are picking up on this as well.

        • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 months ago

          For sure. But I hope they use the Steam Demo feature (same game page with a demo install button) instead of doing a free and premium type of publishing like they do with phone apps

          • smeg@feddit.uk
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            3 months ago

            instead of doing a free and premium type of publishing like they do with phone apps

            It’s not just phone apps, look at this shit on a big-name Steam game:

            Calling your free trial “definitive edition” and having the “base game” as a paid DLC is purposely misleading

              • smeg@feddit.uk
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                3 months ago

                Presumably for the free marketing of appearing in the free-to-play list

                • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  3 months ago

                  This was more meant as a rhetoric question but it’s most likely as you said. A bit annoying indeed.

            • Infinitus@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              I mean… Aoe3 always had some sort of a demo version. Even the original base game had it. In fact, this is actually better, as now you are able to use 3 rotating civs, not just the English and the French, which you were forced to use before.

              • smeg@feddit.uk
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                3 months ago

                It’s more than fine to have a demo, just call it a demo rather than tricking people into thinking it’s the full version for free!

    • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      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.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          3 months ago

          The thing is, we don’t need a demo trending page all that much. Since you says will find the demos only game store page, they ain’t looking at the trending list to find them

    • WalnutLum@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      I have a feeling a lot of these demos were just trying to game that very “new and trending” page, and this change will produce fewer demos.