Microsoft hints at 24-hour game trials on Xbox One

Xbox One owners may soon be able to try out games for an entire day. A Redditor taking part in Microsoft’s preview program has posted an image revealing the so-far unannounced “Free Play Day with Gold” feature. As with most good things on Microsoft’s console, the name suggests you’ll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to access 24-hour demos. It’s hard to imagine that each and every forthcoming Xbox One title will be supported; that’d take an awful lot of generosity on the part of publishers.

But even if only a small crop of titles are offered, the opportunity to sample a game for a full day would be a great differentiator between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. In the previous console generation, Sony offered hour-long trials to its PS3 PlayStation Plus subscribers, but no equivalent yet exists on the PS4. Sony has said it’s coming soon, however. Microsoft hasn’t yet officially announced Free Play Day with Gold — even for those in the preview program — but the official Xbox support Twitter account seemed to confirm its existence on Wednesday.

Despite that, Microsoft has released a statement describing the feature’s appearance as “an error.” The company doesn’t deny that such a feature is coming, however. “We’re constantly exploring different ways to offer more benefits to our Xbox Live Gold members and will keep them updated when special offers become available,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Update 11:45AM ET: The article has been updated with a statement from Microsoft claiming the promotion was briefly posted in error.