Stadia timed-demos expand to include Control and Riders Republic

One of the big benefits of cloud gaming is the instant access to games, without the need to wait for installs or downloads. It also paves the way for developers to offer limited-time access to titles in a controlled way, without needing to spend resources and development time creating a separate demo build. Now, Google Stadia is finally taking advantage of this idea, offering limited-time demos for select titles. 

As we reported last week, Stadia began offering timed 30-minute demos for select titles in late October, starting off with Hello Neighbour. Now, Google has partnered with some of its bigger publishing partners to offer titles, including Ubisoft's Riders Republic and Control: Ultimate Edition from Remedy Entertainment.

Both games are now freely playable through Stadia without the need for a subscription or a Stadia account. However, you will need 30 minutes of your schedule cleared, as once you activate the demo, you only have 30 minutes to play, as the system goes on real time and not play-time.

This also opens up an opportunity for more people to try Stadia and see how it performs on their devices, without having to invest any money into the service through subscribing to Stadia Pro or buying a particular game.

KitGuru says: Stadia is still kicking around for now. It's just a shame forward-thinking features like this weren't already in place at launch. 

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