Are We Finally Seeing the Slow Return of Video Game Demos?

howtogeek.com:

Video game demos used to be a staple of gaming, from discs and floppies included with magazines to downloadable trials that could be played indefinitely. But when the digital age came along, demos seemed to fall out of fashion. Fortunately, that trend seems to be reversing.

Old-School Demo Discs: The Start of Something Great

Early home computer magazines commonly featured floppy disks packed with demos. Later, PC magazines shifted to demo CDs which could store far more data. In the early days of the PlayStation 1 and 2 and the original Xbox, demo discs were a dime a dozen. You'd find them on store shelves at GameStop or even Walmart for dirt cheap, or sometimes you'd find them in cereal boxes.

Popping a demo disc into your PC or console would greet you with snippets of levels from upcoming video games, allowing you to sample them and see what you might want to play in the future.

Sometimes, publishers would even stick demos for other games as bonus content on a full-fledged title. I used to boot up my dad's copy of Madden '06 just to play the single level of Burnout Revenge that was in the game's bonus features pretty frequently. Eventually, that prompted me to check out the series in full and discover one of my favorite childhood video games.

I remember playing these a lot as a kid, running through the same level of Aladdin on the PS1 over and over instead of playing any of the games I actually owned. It was like a gateway to a game I'd never otherwise play, carried by the reassurance that if I didn't like it, there was little to no sunk cost to compel me to continue playing anyway.

Try Before You Buy

The loss of game demos made it harder for players to get a feel for a game before it was released. Sure, you had magazine previews, gameplay trailers and (maybe) YouTube playthroughs, but nothing can replace playing the game for yourself. Especially with the recent price hike in the current console generation, being able to try out a game before making the