The Steam Game Festival has now been renamed to Steam Next Festival because Valve can, and also because of other reasons that I have to drag out for 300 words because my editor hates me (look, if I really hated you, I'd have fed you to the dino pit - Editor). Let's start by looking at the announcement blurb:
We've renamed the Steam Game Festival to more directly communicate its focus: Announcing Steam Next Fest, a multi-day celebration of upcoming games. Explore and play hundreds of game demos, watch developer livestreams, and chat with the teams about their games in progress, coming soon to Steam.
In fact, if we look at this marketing document for developers there's a focus on upcoming games that are launching within the next six months of the Festival, so between June 22, 2021 and January 1, 2022. Interested developers have to sign up by April 14 to be considered for the Festival, and they can only be featured in one Game Fest, which is either in February 2021, June 2021, or October 2021. This exclusivity is newly expanded from the last time and is actually a pretty good idea, as you won't get the same games popping up all the time. Previously, the demo required a game not be demoed at two consecutive events (such as the autumn and winter ones) Developers also have to have a publicly playable demo when the Festival begins as well, so they'd better hop to it if they want to make it in time.
Look at that, we're at 200 words. I'm really good at this writing thing. Anyways, the Next Fest will take place over 6 days and have hundreds of demos for upcoming games and lots of livestreams for players to watch on Steam's mediocre video player. If you're totally down to get not be over or under, but just whelmed by this next festival thing that Valve has come up with, you can check it out here. You can also set a reminder so you know precisely when to set your expectations to as low as you possibly can, which is from June 16 - June 22.
What do you think of this announcement? Are you ready for the Next Fest? Let us know in the comments!
