I'm not blaming poorly done demos for people not buying games; I've never played a demo that hasn't given me a decent enough taste of the game to decide whether I like it or not. Other people have alerted me to the issues of demo quality, so I'm really just hypothesizing as to the possibility it might be the quality of demos that are harming sales as opposed to the existence of them in the first place. I don't know, and I doubt I'm going to do a whole lot of research to find the answer. Maybe the research has already been done, or maybe it's only ever been researched in the binary form (does a demo exists? have sales been impact?).
Hard to say. When I look back at my favorite demo's (UT, Tony Hawk pro skater 2, original doom, duke nukem 3d), then I'm embarrassed at how little I went from "wow, I REALLY like what's being offered" to an actual trip to the video game store a couple blocks down the road (I bought UT years later, pirated doom until 2017, and IIRC I never even bought THPS2 or DN3D
). Practically all my purchases in that time where from word of mouth of friends.
Maybe I should've linked to this video earlier, but extra credits certainly has made an interesting video on it:
linky.
I would argue that games without bloated storylines, and that don't rely on improving are ideal targets for demos. You only need a level or two of a simple platformer or single track of a racing game to decide whether you're likely to enjoy the game....
I would think so too, but I already pointed to UT2004. After
checking, that demo was as follows: One single level for 5 gametypes (years later, they added 2 extra levels). So 7 levels...of a total of no less than 121 (or "a gazillion" if you count the ability to download and play custom levels, mods, mutators, skins, and so on, and so on). Nonetheless: even years after release, demo servers were pretty active and full.
The "games without bloated storylines" is harder to argue. I remember playing a game ('the uncertain'). I thought it was just the first episode in a series, but no: it was a demo. It was pretty intriguing, but it was the shortened part of a game that only had the first demo out. Not only did I not buy it, but some months later I had the chance to pick up the full first chapter of the game in a giveaway. I opted for another game. Now, I know: we might just be different in this regard. I mean...right now I've got an enormous backlog. I can't be bothered to play anything that isn't a full version anymore (why would I want to try out a part of a game that I then have to purchase when I can actually play the games that I already did buy but never got around to?
).
I've yet to find many demo/full game combinations on Android. I had the opposite issue when trying to evaluate a popular Rally game. In fact not quite opposite; it was a demo version and adware-ridden. I sliced my way through one forest of adverts to evaluate a course. I figured it might be a worthwhile game but wanted to check out some more of the options on available which the demo did showcase, but I simply gave up halfway through the second round of adverts... So that was at least one sale lost to the lack of a reasonable demo.
Sorry, but I'm not convinced. You say that you're a lost sale, but if it was really only the ads that held you back (of which you know won't be in the final product)...then why didn't you buy the full game? Heck...you could even buy the game and test that out for a few hours (remember: android has a refund policy shortly after trying a game*).
So...I don't mean to blame you, but to me this sounds like you simply were never a potential customer to begin with. A fallacy most gamers fall for is that marketeers look at their CUSTOMERS. People who claim to be interested but don't buy the game (be it pirates, demo players or just people visiting their web site) simply don't count.
*I only used this once. There was this one boardgame that looked incredibly fun and moody. And it went on sale (less than 2 bucks, probably). But when playing, it just didn't click for me. At all. I can get into details as to why I didn't like it (it certainly wasn't anything technical...just absolutely not my preference), but instead I just refunded my money.