Xbox has recently cancelled a Game Pass perk four years after it was announced. The perk, known as Project Moorcroft, is a concept that involves bringing pre-release game demos to Xbox Game Pass. However, as reported by Global Director Guy Richards, via an interview with The Game Business, this project has now been terminated.
Despite this, Xbox still insists that they will be looking at other ways to support and include gameplay demos through festivals that are organized through the ID@Xbox program. Let’s take a look at what this all means moving forward.
Xbox Cancels Project Moorcroft Four Years After Announcement
Originally announced back in 2022, Project Moorcroft was a project aiming to bring demos of upcoming games to Game Pass. This would be achieved through direct financing to third-party developers for creation, as well as establishing partnerships with a promise of in-depth analytics on their demos through Project Moorcroft, giving valuable information that can help improve games before final release.
However, four years after the original announcement, Project Moorcroft has yet to make any real traction or be seen as an active Game Pass feature. As it turns out, there is now some more definitive information on this topic, courtesy of ID@Xbox Global Director Guy Richards.
According to Richards, Xbox began planning out and experimenting with ways to support demos, but has ultimately moved in a different direction.
“We have actually been doing a lot of stuff that is slightly different with demos recently. We’ve been doing our own ID@Xbox demo festivals on the store, which is a really great opportunity to get games out early for players to try. Especially if you’ve got a product page up, and you can start collecting wishlists on Xbox.
Instead of this original Project Moorcroft approach, the entire concept has been scrapped in favor of ID@Xbox demo festivals. Guys Richards also stated that these demo festivals enable players to try games out early, as well as provide developers with wishlists and more visibility as they work towards release.
“There are some really nice tips and tricks to make sure that somebody who tries their games on Xbox can easily wishlist them. They get notifications when the game launches, or is discounted. Demos is an area we’ve been focusing on, but in a slightly different direction to what Moorcroft was.”
What is ID@XBox & How is it Different to Project Moorcroft?
Once again, this just proves how rapidly things tend to change in the gaming industry. Originally, Project Moorcroft was believed by Microsoft to be a potential alternative to E3 or PAX, helping developers to get crucial hands-on feedback and build hype towards the release of their games, without needing to burn money attending physical game showcases or industry events.
On the bright side, it does seem like, if executed well, the ID@Xbox game festivals could still do the same. Essentially, it reads like they are taking a similar approach to Steam, but on Xbox consoles, enabling their players to wishlist games based on the demos they enjoy, stay up to date on these titles, and be notified of the releases.
Perhaps this approach will shape up to be the Steam Next Fest equivalent on Xbox, especially when it comes to indie games in particular, as ID@Xbox seems to be shining the spotlight on these titles.
The post Xbox Cancels Game Pass Perk 4 Years After It Was Announced appeared first on VICE.
