Demos were central to the gaming scene in the '90s and early 2000s, allowing you to play the early stages of upcoming games and whet your appetite for their full release later in the year. The problem was that they were expensive to make and diverted developers' attention from the final game. Over the past 15 years, demos have largely disappeared from the scene, with alpha and beta testing for multiplayer games taking their place, and developers of single player games opting for trailers and a huge marketing push to generate excitement on launch day.
Microsoft wants to change all that.
The tech giant has revealed an upcoming Xbox Game Pass update called Project Moorcroft. It will allow developers to release demos of their games to all Xbox Game Pass subscribers and build anticipation for a title before its release.
Anticipating that developers might not be able to invest the time and money to create a demo alongside the actual game, Microsoft said it would compensate game creators. He hopes this will encourage developers to participate in the program, especially since in addition to the money they could earn, developers will have access to data on the performance of their games.
This new Xbox Game Pass feature is aimed at indie developers and Microsoft talks about it as a curated selection, so it sounds like it could be a great space in your sub to check out some new weird and wonderful games on a regular basis.
Microsoft does not have a set release date for the Project Moorcroft update, other than to say it will be out this year. Presumably we'll learn more about the program, and maybe even learn about some of the first indie games to release demos through it, at Microsoft's press conference this weekend. Here's how to watch the showcase of Xbox and Bethesda games.
While Xbox Game Pass has been great for us to test games after launch, PS Plus will do the same when Sony launches its revamped subscription service later this month, complete with a well-crafted introductory demo for a pre-launch game. . it just offers something different. Getting the chance to see a game reveal and immediately play a sneak peek is something I really miss in the '90s. I'm glad Microsoft is trying to bring it back.