Why Patch a Demo While Delaying the Full Version?

by: Old Staff - June 02, 1998 for Freespace Watch

This was one of the few moves by Volition, Inc., that puzzled me. Why are you patching a demo version, while delaying the full version? This was, I believe, a marketing mistake by Volition. True, it may have helped us perceive the full version as a more bug-free version, but that goes without saying. I cannot help but think that MAYBE we would all have our FreeSpace copies by now, instead of playing the demo for the thousandth time. I mean, I am not criticizing Volition on a serious level, but I think the primary goal should have been to release the game on time, instead of patching the demo - not once, but twice. All that development time could have been dedicated to making the full version better (no doubt we will find errors and bugs in it), or writing a better manual. I just don't see how good releasing patches to fix minor glitches is. I would have preferred to have my copy the day after E3, too bad it didn't work out like that :). I hope we see smarter marketing moves by Volition in the future.

Don't get me wrong on this - I love the idea of a company that patches demos. But I think it would have been smarter to get the full version done first, THEN patch the demo. It just....well, I am a bit upset I am having to wait so long to get my copy of FreeSpace. I have loved the demo, and will probably love the full version. I just wish I had it sooner.