The event is organized by Microsoft’s Team Xbox, traditionally held alongside the prominent game award event The Game Awards. The Game Awards is an award show created by game journalist Geoff Keighley in 2014. It features various categories in the same vein as the Academy Awards, including Best Art Direction, Best Performance, and of course Game of the Year.
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This year too, Microsoft is partnering with Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards to offer free demos of upcoming indie games. Starting next Tuesday, Xbox gamers can find a link to ID@Xbox Winter Demo Event 2022 portal on their Xbox dashboards. The event lasts for a week, until the next Monday, and features a total of 20 playable demos. These include games heading to both generation consoles, the Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S.
Team Xbox notes that the demos are available only for a week unless they’ll be added to the Xbox demo channel later on in a separate context, so Xbox gamers looking to try the games should act within the timeframe. There isn’t a full list of games available yet, it’ll be released when the event begins, but Xbox has announced the following: hilarious medieval ink-based strategy Inkulinati by Yaza Games, rhythm action game Rhythm Sprout by SURT/tinyBuild, an expressive game about culture and relationships Thirsty Suitors by Outerloop Studios/Annapurna Interactive, and puzzle adventure Tin Hearts by Rogue Sun/Wired Productions.
While the ID@Xbox offers gamers a great opportunity to see what’s coming and get free entertainment while waiting for the Holidays, it’s also primarily to help out the developers. These games are still in development so the developers and publishers are looking for feedback on the games. Both constructive criticism and kind words are welcomed. Team Xbox wants to stress that these demos are not like the regular demos on the channel that are simply restricted versions of full and finished, or nearly finished, titles. It’s worth keeping in mind that there might still be bugs like in any show floor demo one might come across.
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