A Clear Demonstration: No Demos for Downloadable Games

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With the launch of the Xbox 360 in November of 2005, Microsoft sought to effectively re-launch their Xbox Live Arcade service that had been barely a blip on the radar during the closing months of the original Xbox’s life. Microsoft had a clear initiative in place for Xbox Live Arcade and a set of TRC requirements that needed to be followed for your title to be available on the service. All titles must be under 50 Megabytes and most importantly all games must have a demo. Eight years later and the size limits on games are astronomical, Xbox Live Arcade isn’t a distinction present on Xbox One, and none of the current download-only games have a demo available in the marketplace.

When the Xbox One launched back in November it was ushered into the welcoming arms of owners with three download-only titles: Killer Instinct, LocoCycle, and Crimson Dragon. Killer Instinct is a special exception as it is a “Freemium” game that gives you the game and one character out of the box at no charge and encourages players to upgrade to receive more characters. So, that game is effectively a rolling demo with hooks built in. LocoCycle and Crimson Dragon do not run on that model and have also foregone the Xbox 360 XBLA pricing model of $15 and have instead been priced at $20. It is not uncommon for generational divides to create pricing disparity. Just last generation the going rate for boxed retail games jumped from $50-$60. But, that comparison comes as cold comfort to users who just dropped a few months of expendable income on a new piece of hardware with limited software available.

All of the download-only games present on the Xbox One at this point in time are exclusive games and many are being positioned at a premium price with no opportunity for users to try before they buy. That practice feels distinctly anti-consumer and as someone who just got bamboozled into buying Halo: Spartan Assault, I can attest that this practice of not including demo versions of games will make me think long and hard before spending my hard-earned cash on a digital game.