We’ve seen Steam rally behind the idea of digitally-hosted game demo events, and now Xbox is doing the same through a partnership with Summer Game Fest.<\/b>
\nWe\u2019ve seen Steam rally behind the idea of digitally-hosted game demo events, and now Xbox is doing the same through a partnership with Summer Game Fest. For both developers and players, these events aim to emulate—or at least offer a stay-at-home friendly alternative to—the many canceled events where developers would usually get their demos in the hands of the public.
Xbox\u2019s freshly announced take on the digital game festival is the Summer Game Fest Demo Event, a week-long, Xbox-centric showcase of between 75 to 100 game demos, all of which will only be accessible for the week of July 21 to July 27.
The titles on display represent a selection of upcoming Xbox games, but [email protected] senior product marketing manager Glenn Gregory notes in a blog post that the demos offered are quite different from game demos Xbox has hosted on its platforms in the past.
\u201cTypically, the demos you see in our Demo channel are created after the game is completed (or nearly completed) and represent the final version. Many of these demos are early, and some are for games that won\u2019t be out for quite some time,\u201d writes Gregory.
\u201cWe\u2019ve never done this before; what that means is that you\u2019ll get to experience these games early \u2013 some way early \u2013 which is awesome, but you should also note that these games will continue to evolve and be polished as they near release. In other words, think of these as akin to \u2018show floor demos\u2019 and not necessarily indicative of the final product. And speaking as somebody who has worked in the industry for a while \u2013 that\u2019s not a bad thing!»
Xbox is encouraging players to reach out to developers with their feedback after checking out each game, however they\u2019ll have to do so over social media or each dev\u2019s website as the Xbox platform isn\u2019t set up to funnel feedback directly from players to developers like other storefronts that have put on digital game expos this summer.
More details on the event, and a peek at the first 60 games launching demos during the showcase, can be found in that full Xbox post.<\/p>\n