UK Retailer GAME Defends Paid PlayStation VR Demos

They want me to pay inflated prices for games as well so of course I'm delighted to say I'll continue to make use of their services as often as I currently do.

Good old GAME, eh? Makes you wonder how many cock-ups one company can make before it buries itself. Quite incredible it's still around to begin with.

My local store doing this too it's sickening needs to go to the press.

Wow they really want to annoy people, don't they?

Charging for use of the headset isn't an issue, as it's their product and they can do as they wish with it. I doubt very much however that they have sourced the proper licensing for the software on show. Their argument could be exactly that...

To be fair this will keep the freebie players off the system. How many times have you been wanting to try a game or system and a bunch of toerags are getting snot and slobber all over the controllers and wont give them up?

This isant good but to be honest if my Game were doing this I have to confess I'd pay the fiver so I can finally try it and decide once and for all if I want one or not.

This is very shocking to me, i dont want to pay to try a demo unit as it should be on display and free to try of they are wanting to do timed demos then they should of had it at 10 mins and you book your slot (remember epic doing that for the original gears at a display show at the metro centre)

But this whole situation to me reeks of desperation tactics try and make a quick cash in on the hot thing on the market and i have a feeling this is how they will demo new tech from now on i just hope this ends up fading away and classifying its self as obsolete

OBSOLETE!!!!!

Went there just today to pre-order PS4 Pro, which you have to do for the trade-in deal. It was absolutely packed (B'ham), with long queues etc. It must be doing something right. Apart from that, never had a need to set foot in there.

To be honest, I would pay for the demo! If that's the only way for me to experience VR before spending XYZ amount of money for the whole kit, I would be happy to oblige.

As long as the give you that money off if you then go on to buy it from them I don't see a problem. People with no intention of buying would just be wanting to try it out if it was free stopping people who are actually interested in trying it out.

I discussed this in game today (Wakefield) and they said it was because they hired additional staff to man the demo station.

I was sceptical but I did notice the fellow at the demo station wasn't one of the regular staff members on the way out.

As sleazy or counterproductive as this sounds, I wouldn't expect it to be legally any worse than the staid old business model of game rental. This is really just gouging people on a brief rental of a PSVR unit plus game or demo, under a condition of no removal.

@get2sammyb I must admit I was tempted to give it a go but the only available slots were a few hours away.

Sony have really dropped the ball on this one. Awful, AWFUL way to treat people.

But the story makes no sense, I signed up to the half hour slot through trypsvr.com which is/was the official way to go, and it was in a Game shop, in the Trafford Centre, which is a hugely popular place, and I swear there was not one single other person there when I went. I stayed playing VR for two hours because the staff were really cool/possibly bored (although half an hour of this was with the VIVE). They literally couldn't give the demos away for free, how could they possibly expect to make money?

Odd.

And of the three staff, only one was a regular Game member. I don't buy it.

Yeah, they're here to make profit and i agree with them.

@adf86 Ah good, well I'm glad they're making them stop as soon as they get wind of it

@get2sammyb Haven't seen a demo booth, the GAME I went to was in Bullring, and it's quite small.

This sounds odd to me. If it takes a person to man the demo station Sony should be paying his salary. If Sony want do it the store should decide if it's worth manning the station or not. If it's too much work then ask Sony to remove it. I think Sony will shut it down.

Went to the Road to Greatness tour today. Sonys game truck. Well I was expecting a game truck, but here's what Sony gave us, all for free.

Big truck w/ a dozen PS4 and several games. Gravity Rush 2 is awesome.
Big tent with another dozen PS4, smaller screens.
Free food in the tent - bbq hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, sausage and peppers, soda
10 PSVR headset stations. 15 minutes per person.
Large stage w/ a 20' screen where they demoed Horizon Zero Dawn
Stage later had a live band, wedding quality
Free unlimited hot popcorn for every one

Spent 3 hours there in the cold, wind and rain. I can't imagine Sony charging people to demo anything.

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/campaigns/road-to-greatness/

@TequilaUK I can totally back this up as fellow GAME employee. We had few people complain about pricing for the demoing the unit but most thought was great way try without the £350 commitment. All been approved by PlayStation

@TequilaUK
That sounds fair then. Sony's paying the salary, Sony's charging for it, and Sony is allowing the fee to apply to a purchase.

I see no issue with this.

@rjejr
And you fail to mention the most exciting part of your entire day???

Go on! Tell us about your VR experience. I believe your exact words were "this is the real deal" 😉

They do this in America (Arizona, anyways) with the Vive booths. All the games literally have that "Do not pay for demo use" warning and they still charge $10 for 10 minutes.

I mean, companies release games and hardware incomplete all the time and charge us for them, this seems pretty much in the same sleazeball practices ballpark.

I gotta say, I think this isn't the best strategy. Agree that you need to try VR before purchase But charging that much? Sony should pony up and pay or not do this at all.

@ShogunRok They've probably survived so well because they're the only high street games shop in the UK. Ever since gamestation went bust, GAME has been pretty much the only place to buy video games (except for Cex, though they only really sell pre-owned games) and while a lot of people prefer to buy from Amazon and other online stores, parents buying games for their kids will usually go to GAME - the sales from that probably keeps it afloat alone

@Quintumply The problem is, I think many people, myself included, would fairly happily pay a fiver or so for a demo just so they can experience it. Every single review or mention of the PSVR, or any other VR, says "you need to see it to believe it", and I can't justify spending 400+ pounds on the headset, controllers and camera based just off that. I need to try it, and since I missed Sony's "Experience PSVR" event, this sounds like the next best thing. Compared to 400 quid, 5 pounds is nothing

Rofl only in Britain, and people are even saying they would pay for it, only the British lmao, we are a nation of mug's. Someone pass the lube.

@Anchorsam_9 GAME and Gamestation were the same company.

Game are a rip off from start to finish our local branch has staff who are so clueless one said there is no such thing as a duel charging dock for ps4 controllers wont use them not now not ever

@JaxonH Well to be honest the most exciting part of the day was watching the guy who won the truck for the day propose to his girlfriend, now fiancé I suppose, live on stage. Rigs was the best vr "experience of the dsy. Gravity Rush 2 became a must own game. I don't know what 1 was like but 2 was like Bayonetta 3. Crazy good.

Check out @bobmrik's Tweet: https://twitter.com/bobmrik/status/789924047450677248?s=09

As we say here in Liverpool; "norarrsed" the chains are treading water now anyway. They can't compete with Amazon or eBay, and the indie stores have the market covered for retro gaming. Quite simply, Game, Grainger, etc are where your mum or your nans goes to get your Xmas pressies, and where people go to buy the latest annual sports nonsense.

I can go into a garage test drive a new £35k car for free. But go to crappy game store to try a £350 might be dropped by sony in 10 months time piece of plastic. (lets face it kinect & move got dropped). The support for xb1 & ps4 cameras have been outstanding. You want me to pay. Sorry for other game stores but ours is a poo hole.

_{You have been warned about your language. See you in a few days -Tasuki-}

Must say I am interested in PS VR, but am not going to buy before i try, and am not going to pay to try.

Spent five minutes signing up on that trypsvr site, answering ridiculous questions, and picking a password with requirements not even needed by my place of work, and when it finished all it said was they'll let me know when a trial is coming up near me.

Might have helped them if one of the questions they'd asked is where I am, rather than have me rate whether I feel more lonely, curious, fearful or bored while playing games?

I have always hated GAME :-/ Such a Rip-off store. I never buy from them.

I can say hand on heart most of the demo units in stores are taken up by kids just wasting time, I did it myself when I was a kid.

Once as an adult I played a Xbox360 demo booth as I wanted to see how the next gen played, but that was as simple as picking up the pad.

VR is different with the set up time, and supervision required; If this stops time wasters to allow people seriously considering buying the equipment a chance to "try before you you" , I'd pay the £5 to help me make a £500 purchasing decision everytime, equivalent to about the price of a pint and a bag of crisps at the 'Spoons.

As much as I want to have a go on a VR headset paying for a go is really not the way forward. It costs enough in the first place.
Next they'll be charging us for walking through the door.

@BranJ0 I'm with you, people whinging over a fiver and claiming that it's unethical really really need to see the kind of people GAME (and to a lesser extent, but it's the same crowd) mobile phone shops attract.

Add to that that my local game here and the one I used to use in the Isle of Man don't have space to swing a cat, it's a pretty big use of retail space for some of the stores. I genuinely see no problem with the charge, or its amount. The only thing for me is that you should be able to come back next week and still get your demo-charge discount.

Went into my local Game and there was about 5 people booking a slot. What makes me laugh is they're letting kids under 12 trying it out, one kid tried it out today a threw up in a bucket.

They also did a promotion for Fifa 17 where the best goal scored (or fastest or something) won a copy of the game. Seemed like a decent promo to get people in the shop and try the game until I noticed the £1.50 entry fee. It isn't a good way to promote your shop.

@Alphastorm900 Game bought out Gamestation and then proceeded to close them down, so they were only the same company in the end. There is one other game shop on the high street though, at least around here, Grainger Games (I think they are prominent in the north), although they have a habit of trying to sell you unsealed games as new...

Gamers will always be tight. Don't see anything too wrong with it, the money is refunded should you make the purchase after all. Maintaining the VR unit will also require resources and this also keeps those that have no interest away.Seems fair.

No Mans Sky was little more than a tech demo & that was £49.99. After that little charade I guess its open season..!

Jokes aside.. Surely the whole point of VR is experiencing it yourself? Its not something you can put across in a review or on a video. How else are outlets supposed to sell units, other than unboxing new units & letting people have a go? Those units cost them sales, & see no harm in them recouping some of their losses by charging a fiver to let people try it. Its completely new tech, its not like they're charging people to try the latest AAA title.

If I see Game try8ing to "sell" demo's (luckily ~I don't pass a Game) very often, I will pay £5 thinking about it and when I have finished my demo I will break the headset so it won't work. That way it cost me a fiver but it cost Game £350. I still win. How's about that!

I dont see the issue. Its the only way to separate people who genuinely are interested in buying the VR, from those who just want to play on the demo. I bought mine outright but had a demo station been set up when i was first considering it id have happily paid £5 to try out £400+ worth of hardware. You dont think twice about paying £5 for a drink but you dont like the idea of paying £5 to try before you buy?

@licenced This. A hundred times this. Sony have dropped a ball a few times over this VR fiasco. I expect better. They've never exactly set high standards for transparency and honesty but a loyal fanbase deserves better effort.

GAME are awful and as of this week, I will never shop there again. Preordered ff15 special edition but due to work commitments can't pick it up for a few days after release (due to the delayed release). Game said they will only hold my special Ed (which will paid a ten pound pre order fee for btw) for 48 hours, but I would be guaranteed a day one edition instead. When I tried to cancel my pre order the said I couldn't have my money back, I could only get a gift card, or take it off the price of another game in the store. If I wanted the gift card option, I wasn't allowed to have a gift card until the day of ff15s release. Ridiculous! Absolutely awful company and so extremely anti-consumer. Will take great pleasure in never giving them a penny again. I'd say I would even pay more for an item elsewhere, but we all know everywhere is cheaper than GAME. Terrible company.

@kyleforrester87 Tempting tho I wouldn't stoop to them level's (I don't think) but my nine year old can break anything when left alone with something for 15 minute's... I stopped using Game year's ago, kinda sad to see what they have become over the last 10 years.

I really don't see what the problem is and just found out today that my own local Game is doing this paid psvr demo event.So I'll be going down there next week (when the kids are back to school) to check it out..providing its still going on..

GAME suck and they have done for years now this doesn't surprise me at all

@Anguspuss I sell cars bro, you testdrive a car I have a 2 in 3 chance of selling you a car that day, usually that car you are testdriving. That's a huge difference from a pod in Game. Of course we get time wasters and people on site for a day out but 95% of the time the customers are at the showroom to buy a car. The only things that put customers off are unready cars, mechanical issues or they dont realise the cost implications of finance.

I paid for my son to have a go and the staff member in Game Plymouth Drake Circus was really good, although I played the I don't really understand vr to get my son more time.

@Toe-knee If Game is anything like EB Games in Canada I can guarantee you if you are even a moderately informed consumer you know more about what you plan to buy than the guy running the demo. So the whole extra cost is B.S.

Would you buy a tech demo off me for £15 if I set up in my local shop? I might get a PSVR now rather than later I could make a killing. I'll do it for £14 for half hour. Plenty of people out there with money to burn! Also PSVR must kind of be rare if people are willing to pay to try a product that's already out because there must be a hell of a lot of people that don't know a friend that has one (as I don't), PSVR sound pretty rare to me not what the internet would have you believe at all.

I'll be honest and say that I paid for 15 minutes, for a fiver. I've used the cardboard in the past, but I wanted to try before I bought, and I'm glad I did. I don't have the money to purchase the VR yet, but it gave me the opportunity to see what I was saving for, and the knowledge that it's very good.

I think people complain far too much about things like this.