I used to love seeing what demo's I could try for ps3 but I've noticed the ps4 is distinctly lacking in this department. I think its only like 10 games, which haven't changed for ages.

Maybe I would enjoy The Golf Club but there's no way I'm spending 40 quid or however much to find out.

I suppose the trend of alphas/betas may have taken over from more traditional demos but surely putting out a demo can't be much extra work. ( I have absolutely no idea if this is the case)

And a demo has got to have a positive effect on a games success?

I dunno maybe its just being brought up on demo disks that's conditioned me to feel this way.

@thenine: Not many bother with demos any more. The reasons are usually because it takes development time from the main game and that there are a lot more ways to get game exposure these days.

A demo can have a positive or negative effect on the success of a game, just like anything else.

Even on PC you don't get demos. Things like Early Access and free weekends sort of provide similar functionality.

Just like with the PS3 I find that the few demos that exist are on non-Euro PSN networks, we don't get many! I'd subscribe to a PS4 mag if it came with an exclusive demo BR every month, I miss the age of coverdiscs/tapes.

Corporate opinion is that demos are bad for sales and a waste of time and money that could be spent buying shills and astroturfers for game forums hyping releases up so that more people buy them.

I get the reason why developers won't make demos anymore, but one thing I think would be a smart move for Sony or MS to do would be to copy OnLives 30 minute trail of any game in their library.

But don't count on getting many demos from here on out. They take time away from development which is already being pushed to the absolute limit.

Im pretty sure I read an article or heard on the bombcast that actually demos tend to have a negative effect on sales. I don't have any links to a source or anything but perhaps someone knows what I'm talking about and could back me up on it. I am personally a bit disappointed by this as well, especially since there aren't really any places to rent PS4 or Xbox One games. Like you said, most big multiplayer shooters get some sort of beta now a days and a lot of games that revolve around single player don't exactly make the best demos. I recall Bioshock having a pretty horrid demo but when it came out it blew everyone's socks off and for good reason. That's not to say all single player focused games have bad demos, but I think the majority have a hard time picking out pieces to display.

I think the best demo I have played was for RE5 and the small section they cut out for you to play. A friend and I played that demo so many damn times and my hype for that game shot through the roof. Other than that though, I can't say a demo really swayed me into purchasing a game all that much.

I'm willing to bet that, in this era of paid Early Access/Betas and high-profile games being released while still being weeks of patches away from actual completion, companies don't see much value in putting out a free demo.

Traditional demos are not that popular. They tend to do timed 1 hour demos of full games on PS4.

You can guarantee there will be a demo for whatever Lego game is coming out next... The irony being that you know exactly how that game plays.