Why don't games have trials periods?

EllieAnne

GW2 just came out and it'll cost me close to $60 to see what it is like.  I had a friend that did TSW beta so I could see that I wouldn't like it which saved me some money.  My question is why don't game companies have a trial (like through level 10) that you could play without having to buy the game.  I know they make a lot on people that spend the $ on hype and then never play, but how many potential players are turned off by spending so much money on a game that they have no clue if they will like and end up never buying it?

Is it unreasonable to expect MMORPGs to give us a sample before spending so much on a game?

L0C0Man

These days the peak amount of users most MMOs get is at launch or very shortly after it, and is when servers are the most stressed, not only because of the amount of players, but the amount of players in the same areas (starter areas). To name the recent launches GW2 had issues with the login server being overloaded, TOR had big queues to enter, and even TSW that had a relatively small and stable launch had several bugs that didn't appear until there were many more players online than what they had in beta.

Trial accounts, for all practical purposes, tax the server just as much as regular accounts, so it usually makes sense, both from a technical and merchandising point of view, to hold free trials until after population lowers a little bit or at least spreads trough different areas of the game, and put all available resources towards the actual paying costumers during release.

clairr

It's a good idea though.

Castillle

Shouldve gone to the BWE o.O  Everyone I know who tried to get in it, got in.

Royalkin

Because they don't want informed people, they want suckers. They know all too well that as soon as you learn that their new 'groundbreaking revolutionary' mmo is simply more of the same treadmill crap, you'll be gone.

They can't allow that and still make a profit.

CalmOceans

I agree with you, pretty much any release used to have trial, called DEMO. Even before the internet was so widespread, as a little kid I remember that all those PC magazines in the shop had CD with game trials.

Toxicmoon

Originally posted by EllieAnne

GW2 just came out and it'll cost me close to $60 to see what it is like.  I had a friend that did TSW beta so I could see that I wouldn't like it which saved me some money.  My question is why don't game companies have a trial (like through level 10) that you could play without having to buy the game.  I know they make a lot on people that spend the $ on hype and then never play, but how many potential players are turned off by spending so much money on a game that they have no clue if they will like and end up never buying it?

Is it unreasonable to expect MMORPGs to give us a sample before spending so much on a game?

Some new mmo’s don’t offer a trial’s mainly because they need that income from box purchases.  If the game sucks or the person doesn’t like it via the free trail they won’t make the money back developing it. They don't really care if you like it, (least by the failed mmo track record) but more so making the money back and moving foward from there.

I have a pretty bad track record of brand new MMO purchases to find out they sucked, Matrix, STO, Vanguard, couple others in there. Case in point my lesson was learned and I’ll never, ever buy a mmo without first a trail.

I was interested in trying Dark falls for a few years there, no trail. I was tempted, but after I seen YouTube videos of it it was basically a first person shooter. So glad I didn’t give in I’d of hated it.  You only have two options really. Give in buy it and find out for yourself. Or stand your ground and see if they believe in the product enough to offer one.

Xzen

Most games do have trial periods. You usually have to wait a few months after release for them though.

Derros

Every game's launch has issues.  They dont want people, who are on the fence, to get a shot at the game until the issues are, at least somewhat, resolved.  Devs want these people to have the best experience that they could get from the game, so they are more likely to buy it.  If you start playing a trial, day 1, and there are alot of launch issues, you probably wont buy the game.