Before writing a quick intro, I wanted to share some information about my knowledge. I have run multiple demos throughout the years since the start of Next Fest and actively participated as a content creator and now as a game scout for Bonus Stage, a Finnish indie game publisher.

I have worked on notable games like Project Planet, Granvir, Gladio Mori (top 3 most played demos at Next Fest 2024), Vital Shell, and many others over the years during Next Fest. My knowledge is a combination of what I know from my own work with game demos and other game developers. I am up to date on everything and won’t beat around the bush when it comes down to writing about things like featured broadcasts disappearing completely or the oversaturated genres in which you’ll have a hard time getting players.

I am Bram. I have been in the games & influencer industry for 8 years and have been running my games marketing & PR company for 4 years.

Rather than being a company aimed at raising funds, having a big team, and charging people too much for services rendered, we decided to look at this as a passion project with our real love for indie games and finding others that share this same passion with a team of 60+ dedicated content creators.

But enough about me and my love for indie games; this article is for you, the game dev!

🕺🏻 So you want to be on Next Fest?

The good news is that everyone gets a Next Fest, but you only do get ONE.

You can find everything in Steamworks about the Fest, when you need to submit, when you need to have a demo up and everything from Next Fest assets to information can be found there.

I have been helping games since the first Next Fest, and every year we see developers not fully getting the most out of it, so our first and foremost piece of knowledge I want to give you is that you should block time out for Next Fest.

Not only is it going to take a lot of dedication to comment on feedback, but there will be content creators you can join & watch back, there will be social media trends you can participate in and just overall updating your demo if necessary.

A happy player is the most important goal here, but don’t forget to think about yourself; don’t go sleepless for nights over this yourself. Get some help involved; ask your friends, community, team, or get a professional to help you out during this time!

⚙️ How does Steam Next Fest work?

In short, Steam Next Fest is a place where all developers can showcase their game to show a demo to the world.

Steam Next Fest has genre, subgenre, and tag charts where you can find your next favorite game as a player. Looking for a multiplayer? Looking for a new psychological horror? Everything has a chart next to the most popular chart.

To get higher on that chart, you are going to need to have people play your game & have them wishlist it. Sounds easier said than done; that is why you’d want to start early, like a month before the Fest actually starts. The more wishlists and demo plays you have, the higher you are on the charts.

Currently, Steam has also introduced a discovery queue for games that are in Next Fest, which can be found on the main Next Fest page, making it easier for gamers to explore new games.

In the past Steam Broadcasting was very helpful for Steam Next Fest, as there were featured slots you could plan to get to the top of the Next Fest page; this is no more, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t helpful anymore!

Steam Broadcasts can give the player an extra push towards downloading your demo as they see someone play your game. Luckily there are services out there that can give you the creators for this, but also a service like @therobostreamer to keep your stream running 24/7 before, during, and after the Fest.

🎮 Demo on main page or as separate page?

There is no good or wrong on this matter; we worked on games that had both, and both had successes, so what are the differences?

A separate demo page will allow users to leave feedback, which can either benefit or hurt your demo. As Steam mentions themselves, a separate page does NOT have any visibility extras that you can get.

Positive reviews? Great, people will be more likely to get an extra push to try out your demo. Negative reviews? Not so good; people will be more likely to not try our your demo, even if they might’ve liked it before.

Remember, you are competing with thousands of demos; a lot of people will go based off what they see, but on the other side, a lot of other people do experience games themselves instead of letting themselves be guided by reviews.

The choice is up to you, but do remember that you can always take a separate demo page offline.

✍🏻 Press & Content Creators

2 weeks before Next Fest goes live, Steam opens up a special press preview that content creators and press can access to check out and write or plan future Next Fest articles about the games they like.

Having your demo live before those 2 weeks will get you higher in the charts if you have players and wishlisters, which means better visibility. It also means that if you don’t have a live demo for the press preview, content creators are less likely to come back to it later. Some really dedicated indie enthusiasts (myself included) will go through all the games during this time and already start playing and covering demos.

However, earlier or whenever you deem fit, you can start reaching out to press for bigger news outlets announcing your game, its coming to Next Fest with a demo, or already having a demo up and start sending it out to creators.
We normally send out to creators 3 weeks in advance to the actual Next Fest due to their schedules.

There are certain demo-focused outlets out there as well, such as @gameralphabeta & @playtesterhq to submit your game to.

Channels like GameTrailers and IGN are great for when you have an updated demo trailer; you can find theirs and big outlet public forms and emails here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TT3IUKkqTPDQpBAt3eAu5xsHtCRbV6HJ0OIBKb_3vVg

📍 Extra Pointers

Launch demo 1 month before the Fest
Run a Steam Broadcast via Robostreamer 24/7
Check the developer preview page if you’re under all the right tags
Stay active on social media; keep tweeting and posting your shorts
Reach out to all press & creators with a demo trailer and a link or key to your demo and ask them to cover it
Build your community; don’t stop promoting your demo to get the wishlists/demo plays & installs, as these drive you higher on the chart
2 weeks before Next Fest, press preview opens up
The first few days of Next Fest are most important
You can only participate in 1 Next Fest, and they are highly oversaturated (4126 games before dropouts).
Give it your all, and get friends, community, or someone to help you!

Now it’s up to you to get started and see what fits best for you!

We would love to see when your demo participates, so feel free to tag us or reply to this article with your journey. Also, if you have any input on what has worked for you, we’d love to share experiences/quotes/examples in the article; feel free to reach out to me.