Post
Valve's recurring demo-showcase event that can make or break an indie game's wishlist numbers overnight.
Steam Next Fest runs several times a year, concentrating thousands of playable demos into a single window. The algorithm heavily favors Next Fest participants, and a well-performing demo can 10x a game's wishlists in a week. The flipside is that most games get lost in the flood, and there is now meta-strategy around which Next Fest to enter.
Example
Dredge, Brotato, and Dave the Diver all saw massive wishlist lifts from Next Fest appearances. Vampire Survivors used Next Fest demos to build momentum before its 1.0 release. Indie devs now time announcements specifically around Next Fest scheduling.
Why it matters
Next Fest has become the single most important marketing event for PC indies. Understanding how to leverage it is core business strategy for any developer trying to break through Steam's discovery layer.
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