All Discussions > Steam Forums > Suggestions / Ideas > Topic Details
Phangron 20 Aug @ 2:10am
Steam “Game Tryouts” – Instant Cloud-Based Demos
Many players hesitate to purchase games because trailers and screenshots don’t always reflect the real gameplay experience. Downloading full demos is time-consuming and often not available.

Proposal: Steam Game Tryouts (Mini Cloud Demos)
- Allow users to stream a short 10–15 minute session of any game directly from Steam’s cloud servers, without downloading the entire game.
- The session should be seamless, running instantly through Steam’s infrastructure.
- At the end of the tryout, players can either purchase the game, add it to their wishlist, or simply move on.

Benefits:
1. Helps players make informed purchase decisions by experiencing real gameplay.
2. Saves disk space and download time, especially for large AAA titles.
3. Encourages discovery of new games, including indie titles, by lowering the barrier to trying them.
4. Reduces refund requests since players will know beforehand if a game fits their preferences.
5. Strengthens trust between developers, publishers, and the player community.

Why Steam Should Implement This:
- Steam already has the infrastructure (via Steam Cloud and Remote Play) to support cloud-based streaming.
- Competitors like Xbox Game Pass and GeForce NOW offer partial solutions, but none integrate this seamlessly into a store and library ecosystem like Steam could.
- This feature would further cement Steam’s position as the most consumer-friendly gaming platform.
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Showing 1-5 of 5 comments
Ettanin 20 Aug @ 2:17am 
Regarding gaming cloud:
It takes the size of Amazon, Microsoft or nVidia to provide cloud gaming in a manner that is serviceable to the masses.

Considering the subscription prices (and it still having queues) and how aggressive nVidia now forces ads on the free plans, it will never be financially viable or even financially feasible for Valve to provide a streaming platform.

Even Google wasn't able to run such a platform with acceptable profit and had to shut it down.

Steam Cloud and Remote Play use YOUR OWN systems to stream games, so a demo download would STILL be necessary. Contrary to what your AI says, Valve does NOT have any cloud streaming infrastructure, they only supply the interfaces necessary to bypass CGNAT and firewalls.

Regarding demos:
Ask the publisher to release a free demo. Valve will not force it. If you aren't sure whether a game is or isn't for you, streams and let's plays made demos obsolete. Watch those to learn what the game is about and make an informed decision based on it.

Regarding the use of AI:
I suggest you refrain from the use of generative AI because we want to hear your suggestion, not what the AI suggests.
Last edited by Ettanin; 20 Aug @ 2:24am
#1
Phangron 20 Aug @ 2:44am 
Originally posted by Ettanin:
Regarding gaming cloud:
It takes the size of Amazon, Microsoft or nVidia to provide cloud gaming in a manner that is serviceable to the masses.

Considering the subscription prices (and it still having queues) and how aggressive nVidia now forces ads on the free plans, it will never be financially viable or even financially feasible for Valve to provide a streaming platform.

Even Google wasn't able to run such a platform with acceptable profit and had to shut it down.

Steam Cloud and Remote Play use YOUR OWN systems to stream games, so a demo download would STILL be necessary. Contrary to what your AI says, Valve does NOT have any cloud streaming infrastructure, they only supply the interfaces necessary to bypass CGNAT and firewalls.

Regarding demos:
Ask the publisher to release a free demo. Valve will not force it. If you aren't sure whether a game is or isn't for you, streams and let's plays made demos obsolete. Watch those to learn what the game is about and make an informed decision based on it.

Regarding the use of AI:
I suggest you refrain from the use of generative AI because we want to hear your suggestion, not what the AI suggests.


I agree that demos depend on publishers but many choose not to provide them at all. A built-in testing system would make it easier for players to sample games and for publishers to showcase their titles without having to create and maintain separate demo builds. Even a hybrid approach like instant cloud access while the game is downloading in the background could achieve the same goal without requiring a huge infrastructure leap. Additionally about the AI thing you just mentioned, I only used it to polish my idea as I couldn't explain it in that DEPTH exactly. I hope you understand, and thank you for responding!
#2
Ettanin 20 Aug @ 2:48am 
Originally posted by Phangron:
I agree that demos depend on publishers but many choose not to provide them at all.
And it's their right to not do so. Valve cannot force them. They do not own the game. Just watch some let's plays (which are as close as possible to normal gameplay) or watch some streamers play the game instead.

A built-in testing system would make it easier for players to sample games and for publishers to showcase their titles without having to create and maintain separate demo builds.
But providing the infrastructure is not feasible for Valve at all. It's way too costly to turn a profit with it, especially for free. Even if it's just for 15 minutes, because Valve has millions of concurrent users at all times that all want to try out games.

Even a hybrid approach like instant cloud access while the game is downloading in the background could achieve the same goal without requiring a huge infrastructure leap.
Which is unsafe, especially for DRM-free games, because the data of the full version of the game still has to be locally on your drive. Valve cannot distinguish which files are necessary for a free trial and the game developers not necessarily want to specify which files are required for such.

Additionally about the AI thing you just mentioned, I only used it to polish my idea as I couldn't explain it in that DEPTH exactly. I hope you understand, and thank you for responding!
Concise texts are much better to read than embellished ones provided by generative AI.
Last edited by Ettanin; 20 Aug @ 2:49am
#3
Nx Machina 20 Aug @ 3:07am 
Developers have 3 options.

A demo, a free weekend or a timed trial as developers now have that option.

As for:

Originally posted by Phangron:
Why Steam Should Implement This:
- Steam already has the infrastructure (via Steam Cloud and Remote Play) to support cloud-based streaming.

Steam Cloud is for storage not streaming.

Remote Play is using your internet to stream from your PC to another device.
Last edited by Nx Machina; 20 Aug @ 4:15am
#4
Tito Shivan 20 Aug @ 3:58am 
IIRC devs already have the option of timed trials in Steam.
At the end of the day it's in the hands of the developers to offer it. Steam isn't going to offer free playtime of a game without the developer permission.
#5
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All Discussions > Steam Forums > Suggestions / Ideas > Topic Details
Date Posted: 20 Aug @ 2:10am
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