Sony Patent Describes "Degradable" Game Demos

[Valigarmander]

Sony Patent Describes "Degradable" Game Demos

Developers have often struggled with game demos, and for good reason: It can be enough of a challenge hand-picking the segments that best represent a game, but if the demo winds up being too good, players might not ever invest in the retail product at all.

Sony aims to fix some of that, assuming they ever act on a patent recently discovered by Siliconera. Their plan is to offer something called "degradable demos" -- complete or nearly complete games in demo form, allowing players free access to a product's full breadth of content for a limited amount of time. As time passes, however, the demo will automatically begin to pare down certain in-game features, like which levels are available or how powerful the player character is. There's even talk of introducing more subtle tweaks like adjusting audio and video effects like brightness, color depth, and volume. All of these ideas are meant to offer consumers a broad look at a game while still encouraging them to make a purchase.

One example in the patent depicts a racing game demo that, at first, has all of the tracks and cars unlocked. Those options start to disappear after a few races, leaving just one or two tracks until the full game is purchased. Another possibility shows a character brandishing an enormous sword, only to have it replaced by a wimpy dagger after six hours of demo play. Both of these scenarios allow players to stick with just the demo if they want, but anyone seriously interested in the product will be able to cough up some money to remove all those restrictions and handicaps.

Sure, time-limited demos aren't exactly the freshest idea ever, but imagine a situation like this: You're on the fence about the next Uncharted, so you download the degradable demo for the game and plow through the first four chapters. Suddenly, wily and agile Nathan Drake is replaced by his portly, cigar-puffing pal Sully, who curses your name every time you make him climb anything taller than a phonebook. Annoying? Absolutely. But how much cooler is that than a screen telling you your trial version has expired?

Interesting. Also, I would like to see that Sully thing.

[Robotazy]

It would be hilarious to see what they come up with.

[Metal Man]

What if people decide they like the challenge and try beating the game with Sully because he has more character than the default one?

[Ace Mercury]

Another possibility shows a character brandishing an enormous sword, only to have it replaced by a wimpy dagger after six hours of demo play.

Don't worry. It happens to every gamer sometimes.