Playable demos were once a standard part of a game's release and are now the exception. They vanished because they cost real production time and produced results publishers did not like.
A demo is a separate product
A demo cannot simply be the first hour of the game with everything after it removed. Dependencies run throughout a build, and cutting content breaks things elsewhere.
The demo needs its own build pipeline, its own testing pass and, on consoles, its own certification submission.
That work lands in the final weeks of development, competing directly with fixing the game itself, and it usually loses that competition.
Demos released after launch avoid the collision, but by then the marketing moment has passed and the team has moved to patches or downloadable content.
The opening hour is the weakest hour
Demos almost always show the beginning, which is where tutorials sit and where systems have not yet opened up.
Most games are least persuasive at that point, because the loop the player will eventually enjoy has not been assembled.
Publishers found that demos measured the tutorial rather than the game, and a poor tutorial converted interest into a decision not to buy.
Building a purpose-made slice from a later part of the game avoids that, but a slice taken out of context needs bespoke framing and balancing, which pushes the cost up again.
Refunds became the demo
Digital storefronts introduced refund windows defined by time played, typically a short number of hours.
That gives players a way to try a full game at no risk, which serves the purpose a demo served without any additional build.
It also shifts the cost, because a refunded sale is a transaction reversed rather than a sale never made, and storefronts absorb the friction.
Watching replaced playing
Someone considering a purchase can now watch hours of unedited play before deciding, which covers far more of the game than any demo would.
That coverage is not controlled by the publisher, which is a loss of message discipline and a gain in credibility.
Marketing budgets moved accordingly, funding access for people who play games publicly rather than funding a build nobody would see.
Where demos survived
Demos persist in specific places, particularly around online showcases where a limited-time build creates a moment of attention.
Smaller studios still use them heavily, because an unknown game has to prove itself before anyone will risk a purchase.
The pattern is consistent: the less recognition a game has, the more a demo helps, which is exactly the opposite of who used to make them.