First announced in 2022, Project Moorcroft was supposed to bring playable demos of upcoming games directly to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Four years later, the project is officially dead.
ID@Xbox Global Director Guy Richards confirmed the cancellation in an interview with The Game Business. According to Richards, Xbox spent time planning and experimenting with ways to support demos through the program but eventually moved in a different direction altogether.
What Was Project Moorcroft?
The idea behind Project Moorcroft was simple enough. Xbox would directly fund third-party developers to build demos of their upcoming titles. Those demos would then be available for Game Pass members to play before launch. In return, developers would get access to detailed analytics on how players interacted with their demos. That data could then help studios refine their games ahead of release.
At the time it was announced, some saw Project Moorcroft as a potential alternative to costly physical showcases like E3 or PAX. Developers could get hands-on feedback and build early interest in their games without spending on event booths and travel.
But despite the initial announcement, Project Moorcroft never became an active Game Pass feature. It stayed in the planning phase with no public-facing rollout over the past four years.
What Replaces It? ID@Xbox Demo Festivals
Instead of Moorcroft, Xbox is now running ID@Xbox demo festivals through the Xbox Store. These festivals give players a chance to try games before they come out. According to Richards, developers benefit too because players can wishlist titles directly from the demo page.
Richards pointed out that the festivals include features designed to keep players connected to games they try. If someone wishlists a game after playing its demo, they get notified when it launches or goes on sale.
The setup draws a clear comparison to Steam Next Fest, Valve’s popular recurring event where indie developers showcase free demos to the Steam audience. Xbox appears to be building a similar framework for console players, with indie titles from the ID@Xbox program getting most of the spotlight.
Why the Shift Matters for Indie Developers
For smaller studios, demo festivals could offer better visibility than a standalone demo buried in the Game Pass library. A dedicated festival creates a window of attention where players actively browse and try new games. That concentrated interest, paired with wishlist notifications and store page integration, gives indie developers a more structured path to building an audience on Xbox.
The cancellation also comes at a time when Microsoft is rethinking its broader gaming strategy. The company reshuffled its gaming leadership in February 2026, appointing Asha Sharma as Microsoft Gaming CEO in place of Phil Spencer, and has been pushing the division toward higher profit margins.
Whether these festivals can match the early hype that Project Moorcroft generated remains to be seen. But at the very least, Xbox seems committed to keeping some version of the pre-release demo experience alive on its platform.
