Xbox Game Pass to get game demo program within the next year

Microsoft revealed two new ways to increase the Xbox Game Pass benefits in the following year. It will offer a free game demo and allow users to use Cloud Gaming to download select games that they already have outside Xbox Game Pass.

It may appear that the addition of Game Pass demos is a reaction to the introduction of limited-time game trials at higher levels of the revamped PlayStation Plus subscription. But in fact, Microsoft’s program, codenamed Project Moorcroft, sounds quite different.

PlayStation Plus allows you to test out premium, recent titles for a limited time. Horizon Forbidden West. But with Game Pass offering access to first-party Xbox games in full on day one, there wouldn’t be much point in Microsoft replicating this service.

Instead, Project Moorcroft will “bring the fun and discovery of playing new, curated demos of upcoming games,” according to Microsoft, and will begin with a focus on indie developers. Microsoft describes the program to indies as an opportunity to create hype about their games, gather data and allow them to release select releases. It sounds closer to Steam’s Next Fest events than Sony’s try-before-you-buy service, and is undoubtedly aimed at strengthening Xbox’s ties to the indie development community in the same way.

Project Moorcroft “will begin rolling out within the next year” for Game Pass subscribers, Microsoft said.

Microsoft also revealed that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can use Xbox Cloud Gaming to access games not included in the Game Pass library later this year.

“Select” games that players already own or have purchased will be made available to stream on mobile devices, through browsers and through the newly-announced Xbox app for Samsung smart TVs. There’s no word on which games will be included in this “bring your own games” service yet.