Capcom's Christian Svensson talked about how much impact demos for fighting games have on sales recently on the Unity Boards, while also explaining that they take a lot of time and energy.A key component of marketing a game is the release of a demo, prior to the game's actual release. Now, what I've noticed is that fighting games don't normally get that treatment. — Dubindoh
Svensson: Demos can help sales on some games. They can have no impact (or even hurt) on others.
Unfortunately, in my experience, demos for fighting games don't generate incremental sales. And as someone else pointed out, they do take a great deal of time and effort to create (time and effort we feel is better spent on the game itself).
Now our plans change all the time but at the moment, there are no current plans for demos of fighting games in our future unless they're mandated by the platform holder (as they are on XBLA for example).
Doing something like the Team Fortress 2 free weekends on Steam would require zero effort. — PKT
Svensson: That's not an option available on any platform except PC and even then, only if you're Steamworks integrated.
Capcom, what are your thoughts on the new bill that makes unauthorized streaming a felony, and how this relates to fighting games? — Tryken (Ryan)
Svensson: It's not clear to me fully yet (I haven't read up on the full proposal) but on the surface it looks like it helps some things, hurts some others. I'd suspect we'd work closely with the right folks to get them what they need to keep on keepin' on so for legit folks, I don't think there's too much issue one way or the other.
Will the Ultra complete alternate costume pack ever be discounted or lowered? — DedValve
Svensson: At some point in the the future, we will likely offer discounts on complete packs. There's no timeframe I can give you in advance, though.
Please remove OTG (off the ground) attacks from Super Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Its a cheap tactic that most players like me don't know how to use. — Buffy
Svensson: Sorry mate. OTG is part of the intended mechanics of the game for high level play. The matching system should be getting you with people closer and closer to your level of play, the more you participate.
I heard Mortal Kombat Arcade Collection is coming to PC. You should put more of your fighting games on PC too.
Svensson: For PC our focus at the moment is on SSF4 Arcade Edition (now with Nvidia 3D Vision support BTW!). We'll see what happens after that. :D
As far as Mortal Kombat, I'm glad there's more PC goodness happening there. The more of a scene fighting games can build on PC, the more successful we will all be.
When reading the description for SSF4 AE on the PC, it's not mentioned enough that there are balance changes, new online modes and stuff like that for people to check out. — Andre
Svensson: Good point guys. I'll see how we can communicate that fact more.
Why is SSF4 AE not available for pre-order on Steam in some countries? — Aquashark
Svensson: I suspect it's Steam trying to avoid potential customer service issues for folks who buy it without already having a GFWL account.
That said, I suspect other vendors won't lock you out the same way but please do be careful... if you don't have a GFWL account registered to a country that legitimately does have GFWL service, it'll be a digital paperweight for you. :'(
That said, new supported countries are being added to Live all the time so hopefully more legitimate support is coming soon.
("Please remove OTG (off the ground) attacks from Super Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Its a cheap tactic that most players like me don't know how to use. — Buffy"
lol, every time there's a question like this - I give them credit for constantly entertaining them.)
Demo for fighting games only suck, when they are like HD Remix. Ryu and Ken only and 2 player local. At least mix up the character selection, and offer 1 or 2 player demos. I bet if you gave 4 characters (like MK) and offer 1 and 2 players for the demo, it will generate sales. I would love to have a AE demo with Ryu, Chun, Guile, and maybe Hakan just to mix it up before it drops. You would get a feel for the characters and want to buy.
Just a review of this quote:"Please remove OTG (off the ground) attacks from Super Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Its a cheap tactic that most players like me don't know how to use. — Buffy
Svensson: Sorry mate. OTG is part of the intended mechanics of the game for high level play. The matching system should be getting you with people closer and closer to your level of play, the more you participate."
Did they just semi-confirmed SUPER Marvel vs Capcom 3? Sven gave no response to that. Yeah I know the rumor about what Lupinko said about a super version.
if they make an updated mvc3 just with mega man a lot of people will buy the game again -_-
"Please remove OTG (off the ground) attacks from Super Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Its a cheap tactic that most players like me don't know how to use. — Buffy"
God, this guy sounds like a dingleberry.
@11 If he thinks OTGs are cheap, I doubt he'd know what the DHC glitch is.
Demos don't help fighting game sales? I strongly disagree (unless your game sucks). Fair enough most people who are gonna buy a fighting game will buy it with or without playing a demo, but for a lot of potential buyers who are on the fence about a fighting game, I think letting them have a demo and giving them a taste of the system, music, graphics, etc. can really give them that extra push. I can think of a few examples from my personal experience; I remember trying to persuade my dad to buy me Tekken 3 as a kid and he said no, I told him to try out the demo and a couple of hours later I was booting up my brand-new RRP copy XD, and me and my friend thought WWE All Stars looked like fun, but probably not worth buying, and I'm sure we wouldn't have if it wasn't for all the fun we had with the demo. I don't really get why making a demo of a fighting game is so much effort (surely it's just a matter of locking out the characters/modes you don't want accessible and removing the relevant assets?) but then I'm no expert.
Hahaha, that's probably the same guy that ragequited and called me a noob for doing OTGs in a XBL match... so scrubby
and sounds like they semi-confirmed Super MvC3, Here's to hoping they dont nerf my phoenix to the ground, and buff viper please
Sven:"they do take a great deal of time and effort to create"(talking about fighting Demos)
create??
This guy cracks me up every time with so much BS.
@20
What about Mortal Kombat and with all of that content, plus they made a demo LOL.
Oh and what about the versions Capcom had at the comic-cons and what not...aren't those demos. Id's say it's all about money, capcom just didn't want to spend on marketing demos.
@19 Demos have to be created separately indeed, since it will differ from the actual game (less characters,less backgrounds and playable modes and so on).
@21 what you are talking about are early builds, which is not the same. An early build (alpha or beta) will basically be the full game, even though some features might not have been integrated. Obviously a beta build will have more functional fetaures than an alpha build.
Demos are not just early builds, but if you can't believe that, don't. I have worked in the industry for a few years, so I think I have an idea how it works. For the record, I never worked for Capcom. Iam also not defending them, maybe it is about money. I was not arguing against that. All I said was that demos and early builds are not the same, that's all.
Something I just realized today: People say that there has never been a "Super" version of a vs game, but isn't the US version of Tatsunoko vs Capcom essentially "Super Tatsunoko Vs Capcom"?
Just a thought, not really precedent to believe that they'd make Super MVC3.
I guess it depends on the publisher/develpoers. Making a demo does take time, money & manpower. Some can afford it, some can't (depending on the game, at least). I remember playing 3 fighting game demos (MK9 included). If you got a parent company backing you up, then making the demo probably won't be as troublesome (Netherrelm Studios is a part of WB so they can get some financial support for a demo). Maybe times are changing. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Maybe Sven's right, maybe he isn't. Either way, will it stop you from buying that new SF despite not playing a demo? Something tells me it won't. Just my opinion (except for Netherrelm being a part of WB, that's a fact)
No bill has been passed anywhere in Europe as far as I know. we can just stream all we want here
who remembers the Capcom vs SNK 2 demo? I still have it on a Xbox Exhibition disc lol