"The fact of the matter is this will just give more money to Gamespy (due to new subscribers) thus Activision will feel justified in charging Gamespy more for exclusives."
Naw, I think they may get a few people who were more or less on the fence about their service already, but I think the
vast majority of people out there realize that FilePlanet Extreme (or whatever it's called) isn't offering anything in the way of value where demos are concerned.
I mean, we all agree that this thing
will be free one day, right? Sure there are some folks who will pay to have it sooner rather than later, but they are a
tiny minority vs. the people who will just wait, and who
won't pay to DEMO a product somebody is trying to convince them to go out and buy. To
many people (I'd venture most, actually), that's just a total waste of their money, when it's entirely possible they won't even like the game (never mind the fact that some of these companies even have the temerity to expect us to
patch their demos, FFS). The value of a FilePlanet subscription is in high speeds/no waits, sure, but emos should be for everyone.
No, there might be some, but there
will not be hordes of gamers shelling out to buy this demo from FilePlanet because of this action.
Not to mention the fact that those who buy the demo from FilePlanet, and decide to buy the game as well, get to pay double; the cost of producing the demo is being recouped by Activision at the cash register, make no mistake.
This is exactly why I find it insulting that they would want me to pay for the exclusive right to play it some arbitrary number of days early. It runs completely counter to the entire spirit of releasing the demo in the first place. Demos are advertising, and for the same reason I don't go and buy clothing with brand logos plastered all over it, I don't appreciate this trend of attempting to make me buy their ads just because I'm eager to try-out their new game.
'The undersigned' represent a huge number of potential customers for Activision, and should be commended for taking a stance against this kind of smarmy fleecing. Additionally, they depend on the traffic generated by the buzz of demos like this for their survival, and that buzz is extremely profitable for companies like Activision (who could
easily host the shit their cheap, lazy, greedy selves). They should be applauded for acting as a community which has every right to remind Activision that one hand washes the other.
That being said (and not to kick sand in anyone's eye by any means), there will still be places other than FilePlanet to download this from when it becomes available to the public, even without the help of 'the undersigned'. I think the panic in that regard is misguided. It's a pretty big internet..
**shuts eyes and dreams of the edit days of old, before clicking 'post'**
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I'm not even angry. I'm being so sincere right now, even though you broke my heart and killed me.