Next Fest October 2024 will be different than its predecessors  - Is your game ready?

Next Fest October 2024 will be different than its predecessors  - Is your game ready?

October's next Fest will be a little bit new for us we've made a bunch of changes to both how the event works and how demos work, so we're going to start with a little bit of an overview on some of those changes uh first before we get.

Not too long ago our friends at Valve changed the behavior of Steam demos for good and introduced new rules to store page written descriptions to get ahead of excessive cross-promotions. Some other minor changes also took place recently but our focus will be on the upcoming Next Fest October 2024 this time around.

Valve likes to play around with this and that when it comes to Next Fests, and the upcoming one in October 2024 will see some drastic changes. They’ve made some changes to both how the event will work in this edition and how demos behave compared to the earlier versions. In this blog post, I will cover all the changes Valve is making and share a couple of tips for how you can prepare your game for the October 2024 edition of Next Fest with said changes in mind.

What is Steam Next Fest?

Steam Next Fest is a weeklong celebration of upcoming games, where customers can try out demos, watch live streams from the devs, and wishlist their favorites. For developers, Steam Next Fest is an opportunity both to get early feedback from players and build an audience (and wishlists!) for a future launch on Steam.

Next Fest is a seven-day-long major event dedicated to upcoming games on Steam. Next Fest is a thrice-yearly event, happening in February, June, and October respectively. As a game developer, you can present your game in a Next Fest event of your choice, provided it’s got a playable demo approved on Steam and passes Valve’s inspections. However, a game can only appear in one Next Fest throughout its lifetime and there are no ways around it. So you have to make your shot count. 

“A game can only participate in one Next Fest. Be sure to pick the one that makes the most sense for your goals.” 

No matter the size of your game or studio, it’s a massive marketing beat and you should do everything you can to make the best out of it and prepare for it in advance. When this event was first introduced, your title could actually participate in more than one Next Fest, but Valve quickly changed it to one entry per title as each Next Fest started looking identical and they wanted to provide a space where all games have a chance to break out and build an audience.

All The Changes Affecting October 2024 Next Fest

Welcome to the juicy parts. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long ride, but will prove useful in the end. 

Next Fest developer live streams are shifting to a dedicated new tab

This is the biggest change Valve has made for the upcoming October Next Fest. Previously, Valve dedicated the top section of the Next Fest hub to the live streams of selected games. Live streams would run 24/7 at the top of the event page and participating games would get 2x “1-hour streaming slots” to promote their titles. 

Valve’s very own Alden Kroll and Ria Hu said this format has been very complicated for Next Fest participants and it seemed like this created more problems than it solved for developers. Steam’s goal with this change is to make live streams feel less required, especially given how even some of the more experienced studios lack the live stream expertise. 

More importantly, experts at Valve believe live streams eventually got in the way of players getting to games quickly. The duo says this was never their intention in the first place. Hence, as of October 2024 Next Fest, live streams will still exist but they’ll be in a dedicated new tab and won’t be placed at the very top of the event page.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t livestream during Next Fest, of course. Your game will get a massive visibility boost during the festival and it’s always a good idea to stream live during the entire event if you can. Live streaming gives an idea to potential customers of what they can expect from your game and increases the chances of gaining wishlists since there’s a possibility of live interaction. This has more conversion power than nearly everything else during the fest… Well, except content creators of course.

That’s exactly how Lurkit helped Once Human from Starry Studio and NetEase Games dominate Next Fest June 2024 and made it the most played demo of the entire festival.

No more Steam Opening Livestream either

This one is also kind of a bummer. Valve used to organize an opening livestream marking the beginning of the festival. It goes on for about three hours, showcasing some of the most awesome demos handpicked by the Next Fest team themselves, played by content creators worldwide. 

If you were lucky, your game could be featured either in this opening stream or the Next Fest trailer and gain a big visibility boost. Two games I worked on recently got featured in this opening stream and store visitor traffic would go wild and so would the number of wishlists during this period.

Sadly, the Next Fest team decided to not have an opening livestream anymore. Considering all games start on equal grounds during Next Fest (Valve says so, not me!) this kind of kickstart would go a long way in gaining momentum. Ria even said they’re not planning to bring it back for the upcoming editions either. 

Valve believes it’s never been a game-changer feature in the first place as far as game visibility is concerned. When Next Fest July 2024 Edition went live it competed against some of the biggest game industry events and the opening stream directly clashed with Ubisoft Forward, possibly losing lots of viewers to the French publisher’s live event. 

This big change also means securing influencer support for your game is even more important now. To be frank, even if you were to be featured in the live stream, you’d still want to secure content creators and schedule them in a way to ensure your game gets enough coverage during the event to shine.

Standalone demo pages

As mentioned earlier, Valve recently rolled out several updates to how demos function based on feedback coming from developers active on Steam and decided to roll out standalone store pages as an option. You don’t have to use it, but many games already do and see good results.

Opting for this option lets you create an entirely separate standalone demo store page for your game where you can optimize your descriptions and visual assets for the demo. Using this option also means you let players write reviews about your demo once they’ve played it. It’s an awesome way to collect player feedback and gain visibility for your game. 

Just keep in mind that all reviews are attached to your demo page, not your actual store page. They won’t transfer over when you release your game. Your main focus should be to gather feedback early in the development cycle and use the insights you gain to improve your game. 

Since Next Fest is literally all about demos, cooking up a polished and buttery smooth demo build can really boost your game’s visibility to new heights. The more numerous and positive reviews are the more convincing power a game store page has. 

You also get a new shiny button that lets you notify Steam users who wishlisted your game, follow your developer page or your publisher if you’ve got one. However, expect to see a high wishlist deletion rate if you use this option. 

I suggest opting for this option early on if your game has a player-ready build and you’re considering releasing it. New player feedback is hard to come by and even if reviews you initially get may be negative, you'll have time to turn things around before Next Fest starts. 

Demos and full games appear separately in the Steam Library

This doesn’t directly affect your marketing efforts for Next Fest, but it’s a sight for sore and tired developer eyes for sure. Demos now appear as a separate entity in your Steam Library alongside the full game. You could actually get both items in the library simultaneously, but it required some extra work.

This means you can now test your demo easily without creating a clean Steam account and save yourself a lot of time. Of course, it’s always safe to test your demo and flow with new accounts and machines just to make sure everything works as intended, but just pure internal build testing purposes, this is a lifesaver. 

A new mysterious-ish feature coming: Trailer TV 

Valve also said Next Fest October 2024 will introduce a new feature called “Trailer TV” and added that it will provide an improved browsing and discovery experience for Steam customers. Developers participating in this Next Fest will be the first ones to see Trailer TV in action with the developer preview when it’s ready. 

Having said that, Valve just threw us a bone here but shared little to nothing about this new feature or how it will make an impact. In this particular case, your guess is as good as mine, but the naming alone gives some hint into what to expect. 

How to make the most of Next Fest October 2024

Now that we covered all the important changes that will directly affect the upcoming October Next Fest, we can talk a little bit about making the most out of it for your game. 

An important reminder from the get-go, there’s no secret formula hidden from you for how many wishlists you should expect during the festival. Each game has its unique journey and visitor to wishlist conversion depends on so many big factors that nobody can give you a healthy answer, only educated guesses.

Tip #1 - Prepare a strong demo and even stronger player onboarding

I play thousands of demos every year, it comes with the job description after all. With that being said, many high-potential games underperform during the Next Fest and lose audience quickly. This advice, at first glance, seems like stating the obvious, but please bear with me. 

Preparing a strong demo doesn’t just mean polished and smooth gameplay mixed with the core mechanics of your game. Player onboarding is where most demos fail to deliver big time. Your demo should be able to motivate the player toward a specific goal and educate the player about your game wordlessly. 

If your game is a high-paced action game, pop-up tutorials will do more harm than good for the player experience. Tie every learning moment into an action or set piece. If you’re going to introduce an elite enemy, let the player fight it as if it’s a mini-boss. Allow the player to learn the enemy's behavior before overwhelming them with 10 different types of enemies while bombarding them with information about how to level up, what to do finish the demo, and so on. 

I often lean on Half-Life games when it comes to teaching players how to play a game wordlessly. The first time you face an enemy in Half-Life is when headcrabs teleport into test tubes right after everything goes wrong. You have no weapons yet, but headcrabs are also behind unbreakable glass and can’t harm you. However, if you get near the semi-broken tube, the headcrab inside will become aggressive and try to jump on your head, but won’t be able to break free. 

Then and there, Half-Life just taught the player how headcrabs spawn into the game’s world, how they behave when they’re unprovoked, and how they attack the player when triggered. Every new enemy introduced in Half-Life has their player-educating moment. 

• The first zombies you see are coming at you from a long hallway and a security guard is holding your hands, dealing with them. However, one zombie sneaks behind the guard and teaches the player what they do when they get close to an enemy. 
• First Vortiguant you see breaks a heavy metal door with its claws and you can see it charging an electric type of attack before it unleashes it on the player.
• The first HECU soldier you see isn’t focused on the player, but is shooting a scientist, much to the player’s shock.

Most good games use wordless teaching moments to motivate the player and create a natural push-and-pull effect. Of course, if you’re making a city-building game like Manor Lords, and the player can control the flow of time, then it’s a whole other approach.

If your onboarding is far from ideal, your demo’s player retention will suffer no matter how awesome mid to late gameplay is.

Tip #2 - Improve your Steam page with up-to-date assets and copy

Yet another “Captain Obvious” moment, but an optimized store/demo page and captivating Steam capsule images can increase your wishlist conversion rate drastically. 

Your game’s capsule images are arguably the most important assets you have in converting impressions and actual visitors into wishlists, and further down the funnel, into sales when the game is launched. I strongly recommend getting professional help here and working with experienced artists who’ve done capsules and key arts for games before. 

Having eye-catching and vivid colored capsule images isn’t enough to grab attention. These assets require a marketing eye too. Many games on Steam have awesome capsule art but they are just pretty to look at and don’t tell you much about what to expect from the game itself.

An ideal capsule image does an awesome job conveying the genre and theme of the game. A good example would be 7 Days to Die from The Fun Pimps, who incidentally released v1.0 with Lurkit’s support just recently.

• 7 Days to Die is an open-world, co-op zombie survival game. The capsule image features a zombie-themed horror setting, using dark and desaturated colors. 
• The game’s logo is large and bold with number 7 being accented. Day 7 is a benchmark point in the game, as hordes of zombies and wild infected animals attack the player's current location en masse.
• At the center of the image, there are silhouettes of four survivors with a strong light source behind them, and unlike the zombies in the image, they’re posing as actual humans. This represents the co-op part of the gameplay and who we get to play with.
• The overall mood and tone are also horror-like, further underscoring the game’s setting.
• Just as importantly, even in small sizes, one glance at the capsule art and you can identify all the core elements easily. 

The gameplay trailer immediately starts with an intriguing shot and a big explosion follows. All in-game footage. The trailer is well-prepared and paints a clear picture of what the game is about, how it’s played, and what core mechanics await the player. The same applies to the screenshots the studio chose to use.

Lastly, the game’s descriptions are direct, and to the point. It effectively highlights the game’s core mechanics by emphasizing it as a unique blend of first-person shooter, zombie-survival horror, and tower defense with strong crafting and open-world elements. 

Tip #3 - Work with Content Creators

Content creators, especially if they’re relevant and align with your game, are the best visibility boosters during a Next Fest. However, you’re not the only one that’s chasing after them. Over 1800 games were participating in Next Fest July 2024 and Valve said there are already thousands that applied for October 2024 edition.

You’re not competing with all these games, but chances of getting organic coverage during a major festival where creators get paid offers left and right are pretty slim. You can create a long list of ideal names who should play your game but reaching out to them one by one, through spreadsheets and manual emails is also a big pain and will take days. 

Still, your best shot lies here as content creators tend to have extremely loyal follower bases and they tend to turn into wishlists and purchases if the creators themselves believe in your project.

So, it’s worth the effort and time to chase after creators, but you can also opt for a more efficient way and see Lurkit in action. With our analytics platform, you can easily identify content creators who align with your game’s genre, style, and player base. 

You can then get in touch with them, onboard them to your creator program, create paid quests, send them game keys and codes for organic coverage, or set up missions and rewards for a hybrid approach and secure coverage during Next Fest. Where it matters and when it matters. 

Lurkit’s platform also allows you to track how each creator has performed across the biggest streaming and video platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok. You’ll get in-depth campaign reports from viewership to store clicks and conversion rates, plus all that in real-time.

If you want to easily reach out and onboard thousands of creators in just a few clicks, rather than spending days and getting no response ever, reach out to us now, and let’s see how we can help you grow your game and make the best out of the upcoming Next Fest.