Games & Demos
As a rule, the streamer's Twitch client is able to recognize the games being launched. He has a huge library of projects, from AAA actions advertised from every iron to tiny indie platformers developed by a student as a graduation project.
But sometimes Twitch can't recognize the game. This happens for a variety of reasons. For example, if the game is very rare, old, or simply has not reached any more or less large store like Steam or Epic Games Store. Or, if it hasn't actually been released yet, the developers have published only a short demo version to acquaint the future audience with the gameplay, style or setting.
And these games get into a special section on Twitch called Games & Demos.
Where did the discs that went with the game magazines go?
In the past few years, game demos have become incredibly rare. If earlier the developers generously shared free "pieces" of their projects, now they only have to watch trailers, gameplay videos, streams and other reviews before buying. By the way, there is no particular trust in the latter - and the situation with The Last of Us 2 only demonstrates this in the most striking way.
Previously, you could find a "demo" for almost every game. Such versions were generously distributed in digital stores; placed on disks that came with the corresponding magazines; and you could simply download them from the publisher's website. Something went wrong now.
For example, if you take the 2019 games and the digital distributor Epic Games Store, then there were demos for Detroit: Become Human and Beyond: Two Souls. But another large exclusive, Control, did not receive such a pleasure. And - completely in vain! Because Control offered an extremely interesting and unusual gameplay, which involves the use of not only weapons and the environment, but also the special abilities of the main character, who can fly, and throw furniture using telekinesis, and surround herself with a shield made of large stones. I would like to test this before getting 1,500 rubles out of my pocket.
The developers and publishers themselves say that this policy is due to a change in the main distribution format for games. If in the 2010s projects were mainly purchased on physical media (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray), then, starting in the second half of the last decade, digital copies began to occupy the first place in terms of the number of sales. It is easier to return them to the seller, if suddenly the game does not like it at all. So developers can avoid creating demos and concentrate their efforts on improving gameplay, graphics or storyline.
Fallout 76 is a prime example of a change in the distribution format. Players who ordered a physical copy of the game did not receive a disc. Instead of Blu-Ray, the box contained a cardboard box on which a code was printed to obtain a license from a game store. Of course, this infuriated gamers, but the release of Fallout 76 is associated with a number of Bethesda fakups, so this particular situation was quickly forgotten.
Demos, unfortunately, are no longer needed. This means that they are quite rare. Therefore, in the Games & Demos section on Twitch, "excitement" occurs, as a rule, during seasonal promotions in stores. For example, after numerous announcements of new games at some industry event.
Rare Games & Demos on Twitch
The main reason to check out the Games & Demos section on Twitch is that you can see some really rare games here. Actually, it is they who occupy most of the broadcasts. Games that have been removed from stores or haven't made it to the shelves, that are in an early stage of development, are just tiny regional projects - it's all collected here.
However, it should be noted that Japanese games are most often found in Games & Demos. Projects from the Land of the Rising Sun rarely make it to Western digital or physical stalls, so Twitch hasn't even heard of them. But there are streamers in Japan, and they love to play projects about which nothing is known outside of this country at all. Someone will find this feature interesting, others - repulsive, but it is impossible not to warn about it.
Exhibition of People's Game Industry at Games & Demos
If you are very lucky, then in the Games & Demos section you can come across a demonstration of games of our own design. Novice game designers and programmers show their ideas, course projects and other interesting things.
In this case, you can see something really original, unique and fresh. Or you can - some kind of secondary project with hackneyed mechanics. But in any case, the very feeling that you are looking at manual labor, in which the strength and soul of one person are invested, is mesmerizing.
