Mixing
Was cost the only reason why demo cartridge games weren't produced?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
I was reading on this page about the Final Fantasy demo cartridge, and I wondered why more cartridge games didn't have demos.
From this wiki page:
The availability of demos varies between formats. Systems that use
cartridges typically did not have demos available to them, due to the
cost of duplication, whereas systems supporting more cheaply produced
media, such as tapes, floppy disks, and later CD-ROM and DVD-ROM have;
the Internet has more recently been a source for demos, although
typically this is in addition to other distribution media available
for the system in question. Also the Xbox Live as well as other gaming
services have demos available for download 24/7.
Was cost really the reason why cartridge games didn't have more demos?
The company still had to mass produce the full game, I don't see why they couldn't implement a system where if the player was interested they could produce them as needed. For example, special order a demo and get it in the mail.
history gaming game-cartridge
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
I was reading on this page about the Final Fantasy demo cartridge, and I wondered why more cartridge games didn't have demos.
From this wiki page:
The availability of demos varies between formats. Systems that use
cartridges typically did not have demos available to them, due to the
cost of duplication, whereas systems supporting more cheaply produced
media, such as tapes, floppy disks, and later CD-ROM and DVD-ROM have;
the Internet has more recently been a source for demos, although
typically this is in addition to other distribution media available
for the system in question. Also the Xbox Live as well as other gaming
services have demos available for download 24/7.
Was cost really the reason why cartridge games didn't have more demos?
The company still had to mass produce the full game, I don't see why they couldn't implement a system where if the player was interested they could produce them as needed. For example, special order a demo and get it in the mail.
history gaming game-cartridge
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
It wasn't cost effective to produce copies of game demos on-demand on tapes, floppies or CD/DVD-ROMs. It would've been prohibitively expensive to produce them on-demand on cartridges. Cartridges need to be produced in large batches to economical otherwise labour and setup costs would make them cost more to produce than the full retail price of a game,
– Ross Ridge
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
I was reading on this page about the Final Fantasy demo cartridge, and I wondered why more cartridge games didn't have demos.
From this wiki page:
The availability of demos varies between formats. Systems that use
cartridges typically did not have demos available to them, due to the
cost of duplication, whereas systems supporting more cheaply produced
media, such as tapes, floppy disks, and later CD-ROM and DVD-ROM have;
the Internet has more recently been a source for demos, although
typically this is in addition to other distribution media available
for the system in question. Also the Xbox Live as well as other gaming
services have demos available for download 24/7.
Was cost really the reason why cartridge games didn't have more demos?
The company still had to mass produce the full game, I don't see why they couldn't implement a system where if the player was interested they could produce them as needed. For example, special order a demo and get it in the mail.
history gaming game-cartridge
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
I was reading on this page about the Final Fantasy demo cartridge, and I wondered why more cartridge games didn't have demos.
From this wiki page:
The availability of demos varies between formats. Systems that use
cartridges typically did not have demos available to them, due to the
cost of duplication, whereas systems supporting more cheaply produced
media, such as tapes, floppy disks, and later CD-ROM and DVD-ROM have;
the Internet has more recently been a source for demos, although
typically this is in addition to other distribution media available
for the system in question. Also the Xbox Live as well as other gaming
services have demos available for download 24/7.
Was cost really the reason why cartridge games didn't have more demos?
The company still had to mass produce the full game, I don't see why they couldn't implement a system where if the player was interested they could produce them as needed. For example, special order a demo and get it in the mail.
history gaming game-cartridge
history gaming game-cartridge
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
asked 2 hours ago
BasementJoe
186210
186210
It wasn't cost effective to produce copies of game demos on-demand on tapes, floppies or CD/DVD-ROMs. It would've been prohibitively expensive to produce them on-demand on cartridges. Cartridges need to be produced in large batches to economical otherwise labour and setup costs would make them cost more to produce than the full retail price of a game,
– Ross Ridge
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
It wasn't cost effective to produce copies of game demos on-demand on tapes, floppies or CD/DVD-ROMs. It would've been prohibitively expensive to produce them on-demand on cartridges. Cartridges need to be produced in large batches to economical otherwise labour and setup costs would make them cost more to produce than the full retail price of a game,
– Ross Ridge
1 hour ago
It wasn't cost effective to produce copies of game demos on-demand on tapes, floppies or CD/DVD-ROMs. It would've been prohibitively expensive to produce them on-demand on cartridges. Cartridges need to be produced in large batches to economical otherwise labour and setup costs would make them cost more to produce than the full retail price of a game,
– Ross Ridge
1 hour ago
It wasn't cost effective to produce copies of game demos on-demand on tapes, floppies or CD/DVD-ROMs. It would've been prohibitively expensive to produce them on-demand on cartridges. Cartridges need to be produced in large batches to economical otherwise labour and setup costs would make them cost more to produce than the full retail price of a game,
– Ross Ridge
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
It might be useful to define the term demo first. To my understanding demo in the questions context means a in functional (level, etc.) restricted game ment to be given to end customers so they can test the game and buy the real copy later on, versus demo as in a not for resale demonstartion of the whole (or at least in stage of development whole) game given out to potential sales partners, development partners, or journalists for pre-gold reporting.
As of this, the mentioned example is only a a demo of the later kind. And for its purpose it's worth some real investment.
Produceing demos of the first kind in contrast must come with a cost comperable to other kinds of advertisement. Maybe a bit higher as it is more targeted, but not much. Making a CD, even with a run of just a few thousend, was already way below 50 cent per unit, including a printed cover. And with higer volume the cost droped even further, making it feasible to use it as advertisement.
On the other hand, making a cardridge involvesnot only the standard parts like PCB, plasic hull and sales cover (which in itself already go past the 1 USD mark in the 1990s) but also making a ROM. Doing a ROM has a base price of >20 grand for mask and run cost plus per chip cost. Switching to programmable technologies only saves for very small runs, as it only removes (most of) the setup cost, but adds higher per unit cost - not just because the devices used (PROMs) are more expensive than similar sized ROMs, but due the handling effort in programming them.
So handing out a demo-CD will be not much cost to start with, demo-ROMs do have a hefty initial price tag. And while both decrease over volume, the starting cost fro a cardridge are much higher than for a CD - and even in high volume will not reach a region even remote acceptable.
Bottom line: Way too expenive.
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
It might be useful to define the term demo first. To my understanding demo in the questions context means a in functional (level, etc.) restricted game ment to be given to end customers so they can test the game and buy the real copy later on, versus demo as in a not for resale demonstartion of the whole (or at least in stage of development whole) game given out to potential sales partners, development partners, or journalists for pre-gold reporting.
As of this, the mentioned example is only a a demo of the later kind. And for its purpose it's worth some real investment.
Produceing demos of the first kind in contrast must come with a cost comperable to other kinds of advertisement. Maybe a bit higher as it is more targeted, but not much. Making a CD, even with a run of just a few thousend, was already way below 50 cent per unit, including a printed cover. And with higer volume the cost droped even further, making it feasible to use it as advertisement.
On the other hand, making a cardridge involvesnot only the standard parts like PCB, plasic hull and sales cover (which in itself already go past the 1 USD mark in the 1990s) but also making a ROM. Doing a ROM has a base price of >20 grand for mask and run cost plus per chip cost. Switching to programmable technologies only saves for very small runs, as it only removes (most of) the setup cost, but adds higher per unit cost - not just because the devices used (PROMs) are more expensive than similar sized ROMs, but due the handling effort in programming them.
So handing out a demo-CD will be not much cost to start with, demo-ROMs do have a hefty initial price tag. And while both decrease over volume, the starting cost fro a cardridge are much higher than for a CD - and even in high volume will not reach a region even remote acceptable.
Bottom line: Way too expenive.
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
It might be useful to define the term demo first. To my understanding demo in the questions context means a in functional (level, etc.) restricted game ment to be given to end customers so they can test the game and buy the real copy later on, versus demo as in a not for resale demonstartion of the whole (or at least in stage of development whole) game given out to potential sales partners, development partners, or journalists for pre-gold reporting.
As of this, the mentioned example is only a a demo of the later kind. And for its purpose it's worth some real investment.
Produceing demos of the first kind in contrast must come with a cost comperable to other kinds of advertisement. Maybe a bit higher as it is more targeted, but not much. Making a CD, even with a run of just a few thousend, was already way below 50 cent per unit, including a printed cover. And with higer volume the cost droped even further, making it feasible to use it as advertisement.
On the other hand, making a cardridge involvesnot only the standard parts like PCB, plasic hull and sales cover (which in itself already go past the 1 USD mark in the 1990s) but also making a ROM. Doing a ROM has a base price of >20 grand for mask and run cost plus per chip cost. Switching to programmable technologies only saves for very small runs, as it only removes (most of) the setup cost, but adds higher per unit cost - not just because the devices used (PROMs) are more expensive than similar sized ROMs, but due the handling effort in programming them.
So handing out a demo-CD will be not much cost to start with, demo-ROMs do have a hefty initial price tag. And while both decrease over volume, the starting cost fro a cardridge are much higher than for a CD - and even in high volume will not reach a region even remote acceptable.
Bottom line: Way too expenive.
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
It might be useful to define the term demo first. To my understanding demo in the questions context means a in functional (level, etc.) restricted game ment to be given to end customers so they can test the game and buy the real copy later on, versus demo as in a not for resale demonstartion of the whole (or at least in stage of development whole) game given out to potential sales partners, development partners, or journalists for pre-gold reporting.
As of this, the mentioned example is only a a demo of the later kind. And for its purpose it's worth some real investment.
Produceing demos of the first kind in contrast must come with a cost comperable to other kinds of advertisement. Maybe a bit higher as it is more targeted, but not much. Making a CD, even with a run of just a few thousend, was already way below 50 cent per unit, including a printed cover. And with higer volume the cost droped even further, making it feasible to use it as advertisement.
On the other hand, making a cardridge involvesnot only the standard parts like PCB, plasic hull and sales cover (which in itself already go past the 1 USD mark in the 1990s) but also making a ROM. Doing a ROM has a base price of >20 grand for mask and run cost plus per chip cost. Switching to programmable technologies only saves for very small runs, as it only removes (most of) the setup cost, but adds higher per unit cost - not just because the devices used (PROMs) are more expensive than similar sized ROMs, but due the handling effort in programming them.
So handing out a demo-CD will be not much cost to start with, demo-ROMs do have a hefty initial price tag. And while both decrease over volume, the starting cost fro a cardridge are much higher than for a CD - and even in high volume will not reach a region even remote acceptable.
Bottom line: Way too expenive.
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
It might be useful to define the term demo first. To my understanding demo in the questions context means a in functional (level, etc.) restricted game ment to be given to end customers so they can test the game and buy the real copy later on, versus demo as in a not for resale demonstartion of the whole (or at least in stage of development whole) game given out to potential sales partners, development partners, or journalists for pre-gold reporting.
As of this, the mentioned example is only a a demo of the later kind. And for its purpose it's worth some real investment.
Produceing demos of the first kind in contrast must come with a cost comperable to other kinds of advertisement. Maybe a bit higher as it is more targeted, but not much. Making a CD, even with a run of just a few thousend, was already way below 50 cent per unit, including a printed cover. And with higer volume the cost droped even further, making it feasible to use it as advertisement.
On the other hand, making a cardridge involvesnot only the standard parts like PCB, plasic hull and sales cover (which in itself already go past the 1 USD mark in the 1990s) but also making a ROM. Doing a ROM has a base price of >20 grand for mask and run cost plus per chip cost. Switching to programmable technologies only saves for very small runs, as it only removes (most of) the setup cost, but adds higher per unit cost - not just because the devices used (PROMs) are more expensive than similar sized ROMs, but due the handling effort in programming them.
So handing out a demo-CD will be not much cost to start with, demo-ROMs do have a hefty initial price tag. And while both decrease over volume, the starting cost fro a cardridge are much higher than for a CD - and even in high volume will not reach a region even remote acceptable.
Bottom line: Way too expenive.
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
answered 1 hour ago
Raffzahn
37k481147
37k481147
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fretrocomputing.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f7873%2fwas-cost-the-only-reason-why-demo-cartridge-games-werent-produced%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
It wasn't cost effective to produce copies of game demos on-demand on tapes, floppies or CD/DVD-ROMs. It would've been prohibitively expensive to produce them on-demand on cartridges. Cartridges need to be produced in large batches to economical otherwise labour and setup costs would make them cost more to produce than the full retail price of a game,
– Ross Ridge
1 hour ago