Well the view outlined by Ian generally supports the business decision from a developer stand point, however customers it works against us.
Also I think one can make the argument that in the short term not offering up a demo/open beta may be beneficial to the developer, but what happens if customers come in an buys your product only to be disappointed? Usually disgruntled customers are the most vocal, and that negative PR spreads much faster than any positive marketing material or promo video.
I agree that it's good for the developer and not particularly the customer, and that's the point Ian made. It makes no sense financially for the dev. I'm glad PD did the beta, because now I don't have to waste money on GTS. Though I doubt they care about losing a heap of sales, since GTS will undoubtedly sell many millions just because it's a GT game anyway.
I don't agree with you on your second point though, that demos can be beneficial to the developer because it can help them avoid disgruntled customers. If the game isn't up to scratch, sure they'll cop criticism from buyers, but then they can try to fix the problems. If they spend money to get a demo or beta in the hands of players, it'd simply lead to fewer sales, and a lot fewer if the game isn't up to scratch. Selling a lot less copies means less money to fix issues, and less likelihood of the developer making better games in future. Besides, SMS has WMD to get the feedback they need, so a beta is pointless. They could make a demo, but as Ian said: That would cost money to do, and it would only lead to fewer buyers of the full game, or the same amount of buyers they'll get otherwise, which means making the demo is pouring money down the drain. Also, negative PR can be fairly easily overcome by positive PR, which I'll expand upon below.
Now in the case of PC1, I think most can agree (from my own limited experience) and from comments around the web they have to win over some disgruntle customers and prove to them that out of box experience is much improved. What better way to get this done by providing hands on proof that you have sorted out the major complaints of your prior version?
I don't think they have to win anybody over. The negative PR they got from PC1 is hardly any different to what they copped from the Shift games and Test Drive Ferrari, yet PC1 sold millions. The massive amount of positive PR they're currently getting from PC2 has already more than made up for what the first game cost them. Think about it this way: If PC1, for argument's sake, sold 2 million units, but was so buggy that a whole 200,000 buyers swore that they'd definitely not buy another SMS product, then SMS wouldn't need to try to convince those 200,000 to buy their new game, they'd need another 200,000 buyers for their new game. PC2 has generated so many positive responses from all kinds of gamers, from casuals to sim racers, from YouTube personalities to real race drivers. I guarantee the hype around PC2 at the moment will lead to it selling far more copies than PC1, and once the game's out, if there aren't a heap of reports of game breaking bugs we had with PC1, many of the disgruntled PC1 buyers you speak about will eventually pick PC2 up anyway.
