No Far Cry 2 demo planned

By Johnny Minkley Published 11 July, 2008

Too complex to "give away".

Far Cry 2 creative director Clint Hocking has confirmed that there will be no pre-release demo of Ubisoft's open-world shooter sequel. Or, "no, no demo" as he put it to us last week at the team's HQ in Montreal.

And that's because, according to Ubisoft, the open nature of the game would make it impossible to offer a worthwhile teaser without serving up too great a slice of the content.

Hocking explained: "One reason is, even if we were to give out what you played today - even if we put invisible walls around it and said, here's the demo, you can go anywhere you like inside these walls and play it how you want - that's potentially right there eight-to-ten hours of gameplay. I don't know too many people who are willing to give away a 12-hour game for free." Spoilsports.

Hocking further confirmed that the game was now feature complete, with the vast majority of the team involved in the lengthy process of debugging. "Once you push 100 guys onto debugging for a week, things can get stable really fast."

You can read all about what we made of the brand new E3 build of Far Cry 2 today. The game's due out on PS3, 360 and PC before Christmas.

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Eurogamer TV's Johnny Minkley is a veteran journalist with a lifelong passion for games and the games industry. He uses Twitter more than most people use air.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Darren #1 4 years ago

    Hocking - "I don't know too many people who are willing to give away a 12-hour game for free."

    Volition did it with the Saints Row demo... I played that for well over 15 hours!!! LOL

  • the_dudefather #2 4 years ago

    suppose thats the problem with making demos for free roaming games, giving away some of it without giving away too much, and making sure what you do give isn't 'throttled down' too heavily (so players don't think its too limited or anything)

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #3 4 years ago

    Chickens!

    They're obviously worried people will discover Far Cry 2 is shit, just like the Assassin's Creed team were.

    Which publisher is doing Far Cry 2 again?

  • Freek #4 4 years ago

    Crysis did it. Arguably the most high profile game in the genre.

  • cyacomini #5 4 years ago

    "Or, "no, no demo" as he put it to us last week at the team's HQ in Montreal"

    So why sit on it for a week before telling us?

  • muscleblade #6 4 years ago

    Demos tend to put me off from buying games because my curiousity will be tamed after playing the demo. Happened with amongst others Condemned 2.

    AC wouldnt have sold as well as it did if a demo was released prior to the retail game. Demos kind of kills the hype.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 09:08

  • kestral #7 4 years ago

    I thought the demo worked well for crackdown.. And it hits on the single biggest issue for me, I thought the point of demos was that it allows you to test the game and see if it's for you. But most of the demo games (especially sports games) barely last 5 minutes. Things like Uefa 2008 (2 minute half a match), Top Spin 3 (1 tie break), Virtua Fighter ( 2 or 3 matches), you'll need at least 30 minutes to figure out if it's any good surely. I'm sure Eurogamer journo's don't do (p)reviews based on a few minutes of gameplay only.

    Maybe the real reason has to do with the piracy problem, they're become hesitant about making their code public in case this gives away too much info?
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 09:11

  • muscleblade #8 4 years ago

    @kestral

    The problem is though, that many many gamers only play retail games for 30-60 minutes. If a demo is to long it will actually put people off buying the game because they already felt they have played it.

  • kestral #9 4 years ago

    @muscleblade Well then the problem is that games get rewarded for not being played properly! What's the incentive to make a good game if many many gamers will just play it for 30 minutes. That's not a healthy ecosystem for any industry. They should find ways to be rewarded for doing the right thing... Like live arcades not saving your score until you buy the game - you already had fun and it's a positive incentive to have more. If you won't buy the full game because you played 30 minutes and you thought it wasn't worth it / you seen it all, then either the game or the player is not a quality investment for the other party. Popcap can do it with casual games (admittedly these are usually level based, never free roaming).

    Sorry am a bit quick to judge this, maybe it will become clearer in time.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 10:03

  • menage #10 4 years ago

    No sale then. I'm not trusting anything Ubi puts out anymore. After AC I've had my fill of tech above game play.

    Time the fucking demo then instead of putting walls around it. But in the end of year aftermath I'm spoiled for choice as it is.
    Edited by 3 at 11/07/08 @ 10:19

  • LFace #11 4 years ago

    No official demo? Just get the extra special demo that will be released on torrents and usenet made available by our good friends RLD or any of the other scene peeps.

    Days of buying a game based on biased videos or photoshopped pictures are long gone. No demo. No purchase. Just dl.

  • Transcendent #12 4 years ago

    With the quality of game reviews these days it's stupid to buy a game before you tried it.

    And Ubisoft basically admits here that the game is dull enough that you will get tired of it by playing the demo. Noone should pay for this game.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 11:55

  • the_dudefather #13 4 years ago

    GTA IV doesn't have a demo, it must be shit too, and all the reviewers must be lying

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #14 4 years ago

    GTA IV doesn't have a demo, it must be shit too, and all the reviewers must be lying

    That, though, is arrogance on the part of Rockstar. One does not normally expect demos of established franchises (not that tht stopped Square from putting out Final Fantasy demos on PS1 and 2 official magazine cover disks).

    New (or revived old) IP on the other hand, can greatly benefit from demos, and not having one looks like a lack of confidence.

  • kangarootoo #15 4 years ago

    "Crysis did it. Arguably the most high profile game in the genre."

    Crysis was pretty linear though in comparison to Far Cry 1 and certainly linear compared to the way FC2 appears to be built.


    I think he makes a fair point. Demos are a pain in the ass for devs for many reasons, and tbh they don't make a whole lot of difference to sales.

    I know there are people on here wheeling out the usual "/cancels pre-order" comments, but they are in the minority. Reviews and word of mouth have more of an effect than demos. There are exceptions of course (Crackdown was probably one of them), but they are just that, exceptions.

  • kangarootoo #16 4 years ago

    "That, though, is arrogance on the part of Rockstar."

    Its not really arogance, its just common sense and business sense.

    If Rockstar (actually it will be Take 2 that make the demo decision, not Rockstar, but anyway) know that sales will not be affected by the lack of a demo, why on earth would they spend money develping one?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #17 4 years ago

    I didn't say their arrogance wasn't justified. In fact I meant to specifically say it was, then forgot.

  • Skywise #18 4 years ago

    I agree with the no demo = no sale comments above, except for updates to series I like very much.

  • LarryMoeCurly #19 4 years ago

    Can't put up a demo because of open gameplay ??? Anyone else think of Burnout ? Worked out good for them, sold real well and is still supported today. I guess that what happens when you're real good at you job (programmimg) and want everyone to see the work you did.

    Personally I think this game is going to be junk. I hope Ubisoft can finally make a game that looks great and is fun to play but won't hold my breath...... So far they only have been able to do one of the two on Assasins Creed.
    Edited by 2 at 11/07/08 @ 17:41

  • expired56k #20 4 years ago

    Sounds like the developer either has a shitty game or is being too greedy (as in too lazy to invest time and money to make a demo). If anyone here ever played Gothic 3, they'd know that a demo of an open ended game is very much possible, provided that there's something to do in the game and it is story driven. Despite Gothic 3 being a very buggy game, its demo has surely demonstrated that a well placed limit will in fact make people want to get the full game, especially after they spend considerable amount of time playing the demo. There were a ton of things to do and discover in that game. If the developer (or publisher?) of Far Cry 2 is worried about someone playing the demo for 12 hours and not wanting to buy the game, then there obviously a serious lack of content or perhaps not much of a story/plot to keep the player wanting more. EA are just greedy bastards, they want people to buy the game so they can secure out payment without putting forth any effort to prove us that the game is worth it. Consoles as very much to blame for this too IMO.