Microsoft is supercharging its game streaming service. Later this year, Xbox Game Pass will gain playable game demos, letting you try before you buy. And 43 new titles have been announced for the service.
The demos will arrive as part of an update called Project Moorcroft. This will allow developers to release demos of their new games ahead of launch, in order to let players sample them and to build anticipation.
Demos were a common sight in the 90s and early noughties, with games magazines bearing demo discs packed with samples of upcoming titles. But nowadays developers are too stretched to invest in them. Recognising this, Microsoft has said it will remunerate developers for making demos available through Game Pass, and provide them with data on how their titles are performing.
Microsoft held a games showcase over the weekend, where it announced 50 new games coming to Xbox and PC. Of those, 43 will be available on Game Pass on day one.
The games arriving in 2022 are:
- As Dusk Falls
- Atomic Heart
- The Callisto Protocol (not announced for Game Pass)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle (not announced for Game Pass)
- Fallout 76 Expeditions: The Pitt
- Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels (not announced for Game Pass)
- Grounded
- Gunfire Reborn
- Halo Infinite: Season 3
- Hello Neighbor 2
- High on Life
- Lightyear Frontier
- Microsoft Flight Simulator: 40th Anniversary Edition
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- Overwatch 2 (not announced for Game Pass)
- Party Animals
- Pentiment
- Persona 5 Royal
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Scorn
- Sea of Thieves: Season 7
- Slime Rancher 2
- Somerville
- Valheim
- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
And in 2023 we can look forward to:
- Ara: History Untold
- Ark 2
- Cocook
- Dead Space (not announced for Game Pass)
- Diablo IV (not announced for Game Pass)
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
- Ereban: Shadow Legacy
- Flintlock
- Forza Motorsport
- The Last Case of Benedict Fox
- League of Legends
- League of Legends: Wild Rift
- Legends of Runeterra
- Minecraft Legends
- Persona 3 Portable
- Persona 4 Golden
- Ravenlock
- Redfall
- Replaced
- Resident Evil 4 Remake (not announced for Game Pass)
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
- Starfield
- Teamfight Tactics
- Valorant
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Microsoft hasn't announced a date for the Project Moorcroft update yet, only saying it will land later this year. We're also expecting a Family Plan to come to Game Pass this year, so you can share your account with everyone in your household.
Microsoft is going big on streaming, recently announcing an Xbox app for Samsung smart TVs so you can play without a console. The firm is also said to be working on a streaming device to fulfil the same function on any TV or monitor.
MORE:
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