Xbox Are Bringing Back Game Demos, Here's How

As I’m sure you’ve all heard many times over by now, E3 2022 is completely cancelled, both in person and online. Hence the existence of all the other gaming news events that are happening this month, including Summer Game Fest later today.

Even though for most of us, E3 usually consists of getting very excited at home, watching hours upon hours of video game trailers, anyone who’s been lucky enough to have been there in person before has also been treated to the various tantalising game demos dotted all around the show floor. Well, if you survived the queues for them, that is. Now, as reported by The Verge, Microsoft want to bring back the magic of demos, only without the hours of waiting in line. 

Summer Game Fest presenter Geoff Keighley confirmed that the upcoming survival title, The Callisto Protocol, will be making an appearance during the event later - take a look at the trailer below.

They’re working on what’s been dubbed Project Moorcroft - a program designed to deliver early game demos to the people subscribed to Xbox Game Pass. As for what to expect, think of the stuff we’ve seen before at E3 - we’re talking limited, early levels and short samples rather than anything substantial. Even so, it’s really exciting.

“Why don’t we take Game Pass, and make it like the show floor?” said Sarah Bond, Microsoft’s head of gaming ecosystem, describing the project. “Why don’t we make it possible for a developer to take a piece, a level of their game, release it into Game Pass, generate excitement for what’s coming, and also get that really valuable feedback as they’re tuning and preparing their game for launch.

“We’ve set up the program and structured it so that developers actually get financial compensation for the game that actually benefits them financially, and also get the benefit of the great feedback as well,” she continued.

At the moment, it’s expected that demos will begin releasing within the next year, with an initial focus on indie developers and their titles. 

Topics: Xbox, Microsoft, Xbox Game Pass