How To Sell More Games Through Trial Versions...

[savage]

Gamasutra has an article about increasing sales through Trial Versions...

It's probably worth a read by all concerned. Please direct your eyes to
http://inside.gamasutra.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/hBGXv0FkecZ0K4n0FmTx0EL

[czar]

That article is definitely worth a read. I would agree with the points presented.

Having said that my own experience with presenting a trial version was less successful, maybe because we didn't cover all the point mentioned in the article.

My company sells a motivational/self development software package that includes various including amongst other things a screensaver. We used to do trial versions and found it difficult to convert people to full sales. We removed trial version and instead now offer a money back guarantee and sales have continued to climb ever since to the point that I could almost stop my day job (maybe 6-12 months). So granted our product isn't a game but my advice is a trial version may not necessarily be the best option and that there may be other ways of upping sales.