Twitch Introduces Playable Game Demos in Collaboration with Amazon

Amazon has begun experimenting with a feature that enables users to play game demos directly on Twitch. As reported by gaming journalist Zac Bussey, this functionality was tested with a 20-minute demo of Reanimal, developed by Tarsier Studios. The demo can be launched directly from Twitch, eliminating the need to download it from Steam. A timer is displayed once the demo is loaded, and upon expiration, users are redirected to the game's Steam page. According to Bussey, Reanimal is the first game to be tested with this feature, which utilizes cloud-based access through a service called Game Lift. The primary intention behind this demo is to serve as an advertising product. Further information on additional games, pricing, and a potential wider rollout has been requested from AWS. Initially launched in 2016, Amazon Web Services' paid service GameLift was designed for deploying, operating, and scaling session-based multiplayer games. This was followed by the introduction of Amazon GameLift Streams, a cloud gaming service, in March 2025, which was expanded to six new regions in January 2026. The service supports game streaming at resolutions of up to 1080p and 60 frames per second to any device with a browser.