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Try Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for free on Jan 11th
- Thread starter cormack12
- Start date
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Dazraell
Member
Is it though? They give out access to demo and have review embargo a few days before launch. Seems like they are confident about this game
Fake
Member
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Yes, it's a demo. The article is worded weirdly.
For those eager to get their hands on it, or curious about what's in store, a free demo will be available on January 11 for all platforms.
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Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Supposedly review embargo is the same day as the demo. That's someone that is phenomenally confident, if true. Read about it a week ahead of time with scores, and try it yourself.
Fake
Member
I take back because of the article phrasing. Maybe they are confident after all.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The previews for the game have been overwhelmingly positive. Looks like it's going to be a great 2.5D Metroidvania.
NeverYouMind
Member
Never liked any of Ubisoft's 2D titles. Not even going to bother with this one.
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Dazraell
Member
I believe it's only this one + Ubisoft Montreal is working on Sands of Time remake
cormack12
Gold Member
Holy shit, that was like a year and a half ago. I need to slow my sands of time down!!!
Evil Calvin
Afraid of Boobs
Delete
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SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I’d say so.
If a major publisher is announcing a Play it for Free promo before release, it tells me they’re expecting it to bomb.
Doesn’t mean it’s not a good game. They just don’t have confidence that it’s going to sell.
ManaByte
Banned
Holy shit. So now playable demos are bad.
Sushi_Combo
Member
What is this nonsense.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Im ready for this! The game has been getting positive reports in the previews so im looking forward to trying the PS5 version.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
So are you applying this insane logic to Tekken 8 also?
ManaByte
Banned
Yes, Tekken 8 is obviously dog shit because they released a demo a month in advance.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
What is this nonsense? You mean, what is this reality. Did you just get into this hobby?
Ubisoft and most other major publishers don’t do “free trials” at launch unless they’re afraid the game’s going to perform poorly.
Unless you want to blow smoke up each other’s asses and pretend it’s the norm from big publishers.
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ManaByte
Banned
It's a fucking DEMO. Yes, demos are normal. There's an entire section on the PSN store for DEMOS.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Yikes.....you're apparently smoking other things besides meat
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
ManaByte
Banned
It's not a free trial. Try reading the thread before replying next time.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Come back to me a month or two after the game launches, and we’ll see how wrong I am.
ManaByte
Banned
You're going to be wrong on Thursday when a demo is released and not a free trial.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
You didn’t answer the question. Name the other games.
ManaByte
Banned
Are you seriously trying to argue that companies don't release demos?
You're trolling.
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SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I see you pulled your meaningless article down.
Maybe go back and reread what I said. I’m not trolling. I’m telling it like it is.
ManaByte
Banned
Ok, so is Tekken 8 going to be a massive failure because they released a demo a MONTH before the game comes out? Answer that.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Personally, I think it means that the game has a lower budget than their big stuff and the marketing team has determined that getting your hands on it is the best way to sell the game, versus trailers since the game isn't really pushing AAA graphics or anything.
We all know a demo is a potential risk. You can gain sales in some cases, and you can lose sales in some cases. It really just depends on if you think the gameplay is so strong that you gain more than you'd lose. It's a marketing strategy.
What we know for sure is that this means that they think the game plays well enough that if people just try it, it will increase sales. I don't think anyone is predicting this game to be some blockbuster selling game, but it would be nice if it gets great reviews and word of mouth and surprises people.
cormack12
Gold Member
SportsFan581
Member
The playable demos could certainly go either way as far as influencing sales, especially early sales (maybe you scratch the initial itch with the demo and then wait on a price drop).
I think it makes a lot of sense with a large scale 2.5D game though. A lot of gamers today only have experience with indie 2D games because not as many big studios do them now. The demo here might help with the $50 sticker shock and get curious gamers to jump on. Assuming of course that it plays well, it looks very solid in the previews so far.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Japanese publishers often do demos. This doesn’t apply to them.
ManaByte
Banned
So you are trolling.
Demos for Japanese games are good. Demos for any other games are bad.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
It absolutely makes sense. They’re taking a gamble that they know can blow up in their face by going 2D with PoP at $50.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
No point in replying if you can’t read, and just go all dramatic.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
It does apply to them. What they are doing is picking a focus for marketing. Many Japanese games don't have the most cutting edge visuals, but have top tier gameplay. Many also don't have infinite marketing budget for trailers. A demo is a cheap way to bypass visual deficit and focus on selling the game on gameplay feel, and it costs almost nothing to do.
Something like a large Sony game that has cutting edge visuals will sell in trailers well just from the visuals. At that point, marketing will determine that FOMO and visuals are enough to sell it and skip a demo. A demo may convince people they don't need it, but the trailer will convince them they will need it.
SportsFan581
Member
@
SmokedMeat
PoP plays best in 2D IMO, I don't think it's a risk as far as the IP goes. I doubt it's something that could really blow up in their face either, the budget on this game is probably not nearly as high as a proper 3D game. At least it seems like it would be, since all the stages/areas are only presented from the one angle (have no real idea about that though). They might be able to break-even here even if it launches poorly, I hope it turns them a nice profit though. I'd love to see more 2D games from larger studios with nice 2.5d graphics (not a big fan of retro style pixel art).
I've always felt that platforming in particular was at its best in 2D.
SmokedMeat
PoP plays best in 2D IMO, I don't think it's a risk as far as the IP goes. I doubt it's something that could really blow up in their face either, the budget on this game is probably not nearly as high as a proper 3D game. At least it seems like it would be, since all the stages/areas are only presented from the one angle (have no real idea about that though). They might be able to break-even here even if it launches poorly, I hope it turns them a nice profit though. I'd love to see more 2D games from larger studios with nice 2.5d graphics (not a big fan of retro style pixel art).I've always felt that platforming in particular was at its best in 2D.
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SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I’m going to have to disagree with you. From my personal experience, even with well known sure fire hit franchises, publishers like Namco would still release a demo. Even going back to the PS1 days.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Sure, that's fine. Might literally just be budget. I can't recall ever seeing a Namco commercial anywhere. All it means is this is how they are choosing to market their game, and they think playing it before buying is a net positive. There are multiple ways to market a game. Anyway, just repeating myself.
You notice you don't get Souls game demos. Because they know hype, FOMO actually are motivating factors. And playing it may remind some people its hard and they won't play it. There's always a marketing logic to it. We can only guess what it is.
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SmokedMeat
Gamer™
@
I've always felt that platforming in particular was at its best in 2D.
PoP is good in 2D, but Sands of Time and Forgotten Sands were above any 2D PoP imo.
You’re right though in that the budget couldn’t have been nearly as large as a 3D game. I think it’s still a risky move to go 2D these days, as a lot of people were thirsting for a 3D Prince, and there’s some that equate 2D with $20 budget games. At $50 it’s a hard sell I think, hence the prerelease demo.
Hopefully they don’t put the franchise on ice if this doesn’t live up to sales expectations.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
March Climber
Member
Your comments justifying why japanese demos are great and why other demos are lack of confidence are pretty funny, but I have to admit you've created a bit of an ironclad defense by making your argument more about sales than ratings, because we will need to know the budget of the game to determine if it was a success or not.
Honestly, I disagree about the confidence issue, but I agree with you about the 49.99 price point being a barrier of entry. My prediction is that this game will be put on the 'underrated gems' list of 2024 and a larger sales spike will occur somewhere between 14.99 and 29.99.
If this ends up on gamepass then never mind to any of the above.
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
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