On the flip side games like Battlefield and Overwatch which are entirely multiplayer driven and have various balancing and load-testing requirements benefit imm

On the flip side games like Battlefield and Overwatch which are entirely multiplayer driven and have various balancing and load-testing requirements benefit immensely from (free) alpha and beta stages which are essentially demos. With the increased prevalence of such games I can only imagine demos remain prominent (even if they are called "alpha/beta periods" instead.