Poll: Have LP's Influenced Your Purchasing Decisions?

[Yopaz]

I'll typically look up LPs or gameplay videos to determine if I would think something seems fun enough to justify my purchasing it. The most definitive example I can think of for an LP specifically affecting my purchasing habits would be Chip Cheezum's Let's Plays of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I'd skip the cutscenes, partly because I was watching for the commentary (some 30-minute episodes of the LPs were entirely cutscenes before he added the Uncut Commentary videos) and partly because I was getting interested enough that I didn't want to see story spoilers. Then the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection came out and I knew what I had to do...

Yeah, this is my thoughts on the subject too. I rarely watch Let's plays to see the entire game, I usually do it to see how the gameplay works and see if I might be interested in it. When I see that the gameplay is interesting I will usually decide to buy it and if it looks boring then I wont. It's not complicated...

 

[magicmonkeybars]

Steam sales have caused me to buy more games than LPs ever have but I have bought a few because I saw someone play them.
Problem for me is that if I watch an LP of a console game, even if I do have an interest in buying the game I'll have to get the console first, console exclusivity has cost more missed sales for companies than let's plays when it comes to me.

 

[xyrafhoan]

Usually for big budget games (ie Nintendo) a Let's Play has never changed whether or not I'm going to buy the game. With them, it's either something I'm resolved to buy (Zelda, anything MonolithSoft), or don't care because I simply don't like the genre (Mario platformers). It's mostly why I don't care so much that Nintendo is cracking down on LPs, bad idea or not, because their marketing department is so huge and most of the customers simply don't watch LPs on YouTube (parents and children). Generally, I don't find LPs any more influential than word of mouth from my friends.

LPs are more useful to scope out the more obscure games that big companies have little to do with. Like Hatoful Boyfriend. Who knew a game about dating pigeons could be so emotional?

 

[Aruezi]

I can honestly say that the only reason I purchased Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Metal Gear Solid: Revengence was because of how much I enjoyed the Let's Plays Xcalizorz and Yo Videogames did for them.

The Let's Plays for Colonial Marines also managed to save me from making a horrible mistake.

 

[Snotnarok]

Totally, I've bought a few games because LPs have either showed a game I wasn't aware I ever wanted or they tipped the scale, alternatively yes I'd rather watch an LP at times to see if a game is interesting to me.

 

[Sosa Star]

Yes, I've bought games when I've seen an interesting LP of them. Most recent ones I can think of was Dark Souls, Neir and Binding of Issac. Once or twice I've seen an LP of a game I was considering and been turned off by the asthetic, music or voices.

 

[sethisjimmy]

Without a doubt. Notably, SuperGreatFriend's LP of Deadly Premonition Convinced me to buy the Deadly Premonition special rerelease. Helloween4545's LP of Call of Cthulhu convinced me to buy Call of Cthulhu. While this isn't a full LP, Two Best Friends' "shitstorm of scariness" on Killer7 convinced me to buy that. Mangaminx's Walking Dead LP convinced me to buy that game.

So yeah. I've never had a Let's Play specifically sway me from playing a game that I already knew I wasn't going to play. While I would love to think of LP's as great things that only ever benefit developers by marketing and creating word of mouth, but on the same level, I can see how they might dissuade on-the-fence consumers from buying games that they can view free online. Especially for heavily narrative driven games with little choice. And then there's that news story that came out a while ago claiming that games with demos sold less than games without. I can see that basic principle in play with LP's as well for some people. While I've never personally experienced it, I can see it being plausible. So I can somewhat understand the stance of a developer that might not want the full content of a game available in convenient video form.

 

[Denamic]

Absolutely.
It's like the next best thing after a demo. In fact, it's sometimes better than a demo, as you get a more complete experience to reference, albeit second hand. Trailers and other advertisements work to bring attention to a product, but let's plays informs your decision. Reviews are often not very trustworthy. Not necessarily because of corruption or whatever, but because they are based on the reviewers' tastes and are likely to differ from my own. In let's plays, you get to see the game and make up your own mind regardless of how the actual player feels. I wouldn't have gotten Demon's Souls without let's plays, and then I wouldn't have gotten Dark souls, which is one of my all time favourite games ever. Well, I might have gotten it anyway eventually, but I'd have been very late to the party.

 

[novem]

Bought and been dissuaded. Although that?s not the main reason I watch them. There are a couple video producers whose video I will watch even if I hate or have no interest in the game because I enjoy their personality. I?m not watching because of the games themselves; often times the worst games make the most entertaining videos.

 

[babinro]

My option didn't appear on your list...
I have been dissuaded from game purchases thanks to Let's Play.

LP's have never made me want to buy a game but they are often the reason to NOT buy a game.
This probably requires clarification.

I've always hated the God of War gameplay but loved the environments and story. It's a game I'd rather watch a friend play through expertly than force myself to endure the grind of combat. Thanks to Let's Play's I no longer have to struggle with the choice of buying games whose gameplay lacks in favor of story.

I'll simply watch the LP and have a better overall experience because of it.
LP's have ultimately saved me 100's of dollars in game purchases.

 

[Unia]

I've bought and avoided games due to Let's Plays. I've purchased some games after watching an LP of it usually because it looked fun. I bought Plants vs Zombies after watching someone (I want to say it was ZackScott) play it. It looked fun, so I gave it a shot and I still enjoy it. Usually, when I avoid a game, it's because it was a game that I already had some interest in that and LP showed me wasn't worth the purchase. I was one of the fortunate who waited for Aliens: Colonial Marines to come out and saw videos saying how bad it was, causing me to not buy it. In an odd case, I also watch LPs of games that I'm interested in and I think are good, but I can't play them. Usually, this is the case of horror-type games. Games like Dead Space, Dead Space 2, and Amnesia. I don't handle jump scares well, so I know that if I played those games myself, I wouldn't be able to make it through the content. so LPs allow me to see the content despite what scares me.

I hear you, I watched an LP of Amnesia because the demo already made me feel nauseus. Some sort of motion sickness I guess. I realize that games like Heavy Rain might lose sales from LPs because of how linear and story-focused the game is. Personally I remember deciding Bioshock was the game for me after watching a bit from a Let's Play. It's worth mentioning because this was back when I generally avoided first person shooters. As for an LP making me not get a game...propably Magicka, I knew I wouldn't be able to get anyone to play it with me and it would feel so hollow alone

 

[SonofaJohannes]

I have not purchased a game in years, so no, LP's have not influenced my decisions. LP's have made me consider getting certain games, but I've never bought any of them. Need to finish playing the ones I have first.

 

[ninjaRiv]

If I'm ever unsure about whether or not to get a game, I watch an LP. It's better than a demo, imo. I think Nintendo really fucked up.

 

[RandV80]

If you're trying to determine whether it was right or wrong for Nintendo to do this, then the opinions of people who don't watch LP's should be taken into account.

It's still kind of a bad idea regardless because typically any kind of free advertising is good advertising, but the overall impact depends a lot on how many gamers actually use LP's to influence their decisions. Especially when talking about Nintendo games, where people are usually already decided on whether or not they want to buy the next Mario/Zelda/Metroid/etc.

 

[Reyold]

It was only one game, but I'm really glad I got it.

I was watching the Game Grumps' playthrough of Pocky and Rocky, and it influenced me to get the game. And by "get," I mean download the ROM for emulating, because, personally speaking, there's not really a good reason to spend money on an SNES if I can play it on my laptop instead.

 

[Mistilteinn]

I always go into LP's with as little bias as possible, usually because the game in question is one that I know little of, and if they're people I watch often it's for their commentary more than anything. However, there are many, many LP's that have persuaded me to buy a game, such as Bioshock Infinite, Dragon's Dogma, and most recently, Legend of Mana (or games that I still want to buy: looking at you MGR:R, Okami, and NieR!) I feel that LP's are one of the most effective advertising tools in the industry--more so than 30 second commercials, at least--as they can make a person think, "Huh, so that's how this game plays. Y'know, if there's a demo, maybe I'll try that." Or if there is no demo, then they might watch the LP a little more and decide they want to buy the game and experience it themselves. And if they don't like the game? No sweat. Their money was never going to the game anyway, so it's no big deal. If they were going to buy the game, but the LP turned them off, once again, no sweat. It's one person. And if the game's bad, who's to say that weeding out bad games is a bad thing?

So I cannot fathom why Nintendo would do something so stupid. As a previous poster said, Nintendo tends to offer at the very least well-made games, and so it's as if they're saying, "We don't want you to show our games to prospective buyers, and we don't want other companies to pay you money to show off our games so that we don't spend a dime. We'd rather take your money or force you to stop advertising our products for free." It's insipid, completely and utterly insipid.

 

[Idlemessiah]

LPs are a fairly major aspect in the game deciding department for me. Reviews can only tell you so much about a game without actually watching somebody play it. And then somebody I follow will post a fresh LP of something I've never heard of and it looks awesome.

Some examples of LP influenced purchases are:

Amnesia,
Chivalry,
Deus Ex: HR,
FTL,
Limbo,
Minecraft,
Surgeon Simulator,
Tiny & Big,
Torchlight,
The Witcher and
XCOM: EU

And they're only the ones I can remember watching right now. If I sat and trawled through my WHOLE library, not just Steam, I expect I'd find more. However, LP or not, I don't buy Nintendo games anyway.

 

[SquidSponge]

If I want to know what a game is like to play, I could watch a trailer or read a review, or I could actually see it being played...? I know which one speaks most accurately (and in a manner that is difficult to exhibit/hide bias, which is unfortunately an important point in games journalism these days). So to directly answer the question, I have bought many games as a result of seeing an LP. That said, it's quite possible that I could be put off a game, but in that event it would be its own fault for being a steaming pile of something.

The vast majority of LPs I've watched, however, are for games I already own. Which inevitably prompts me to re-play them. It's good to see another person's play-style, and sometimes they reveal a trick I didn't know about.

 

[E-Penguin]

The first episode of Jesse Cox's LP of Dishonored was what drove me to buying the game without waiting for a sale.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS4XhNlpEFo[/youtube]

So yes, I suppose LP's affect my purchasing decisions; it's always nice to see a bit of gameplay that's not from a trailer or from some journalist.

On a side note, I think I've forgotten how to embed videos.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Yes, LPs are one of the primary ways I find interesting, out-of-the-way games to try out. In several cases, they have introduced me to an old game and I have then gone on to purchase its more recent sequels (this is how I ended up pre-ordering Alice: Madness Returns). LPs have also introduced me to the work of game developers I would not otherwise have heard of, and to try out games that got fairly negative reviews, but looked interesting to me when I actually saw them played.