Tiger Woods 14 Demo Proves Successful

There has been discussion as of late industry-wide regarding the value of video game demos. While the importance certainly will vary with each title based on genre, awareness, and marketing levels with sports games they have generally been used to demonstrate improvements from the last year’s version to the upcoming one. They became a necessity because of the importance in differentiating between them. Consumers have gotten more strict on where their $60 is to be spent as they have sought out greater justification for each potential purchase. 

The two baseball titles this year passed on releasing demos. That is probably the only sport that can get away with it though for a number of reasons. The others have to find more creative ways to reach gamers. With Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 EA Sports not only put out a demo three weeks before release of the game but packed in a ton of content even including online tournaments in the mix. It’s fair to question just how much influence a demo may have on purchase decisions but in the case of Tiger 14 at the very least it has been a positive venture.

Based on the poll from last week 35% of respondents are more likely to buy the game after playing the demo with only 9% less likely. That is a significant indication of how the demo has been received given that many people – and even more so the ones that visit the site and would vote in that poll – would have gone into it already expecting to pick it up or pass. It may actually be the case that this particular demo is especially effective selling the game to those who play it every year by clearly defining the new additions.

At the very least the structure of the demo has gone over well and EA deserves credit for putting the game out there in such a manner. Hopefully that will result in similar actions being taken with other games going forward. The opportunity being presented for each individual to better assess a game’s potential value should not be overlooked. Now the question becomes whether the momentum Tiger 14 has built results in a sales bump this year.