Indie Games Get Buried in Steam Next Fest

“Hey there! I'll keep it short, names Pawkt, I am a freelance journalist, avid gamer that has a track record of putting together multi-hour long showcase events with commentary to help spotlight indie games and share them with my community. We are a passionate gamer and love helping bring new titles to life, be that through QA testing, insights and giving recommendations here and there daily. If you’re taking part, I’d love to check out your game. Chances are, I’ve already come across it thro”

“I always check https://howtomarketagame.com/festivals/ to see if there are any useful festivals, but right now there are hardly any compared to previous years. Still, while browsing the store I can see that some games are in festivals that never appeared on that page. Am I missing something? What’s happening with festivals? submitted by /u/IperPelle [link] [comments]”

“Hey all! I'm a solo developer and I'll be taking part in Steam Next Fest tomorrow for the first time ever! There's a good chance my demo will fall into the void as I imagine there's gonna be a LOT of fellow devs sharing their work too, but I'm excited nonetheless. Shattermine Idle is an incremental mining game where you unlock abilities, destroy ores, hire workers, and gradually build up your operation. I've put a lot of focus into making the abilities fun and satisfying”

“Hey all! I'm a solo developer and I'll be taking part in Steam Next Fest tomorrow for the first time ever! There's a good chance my demo will fall into the void as I imagine there's gonna be a LOT of fellow devs sharing their work too, but I'm excited nonetheless. Shattermine Idle is an incremental mining game where you unlock abilities, destroy ores, hire workers, and gradually build up your operation. I've put a lot of focus into making the abilities fun and satisfying”

“Hi everyone! I'm a solo developer, and One Line Wonder is my first game! I'm really excited to finally share it with you all. I've recently given the game a visual polish, and here's a look at the updated trailer! The game is joining Steam Next Fest starting tomorrow, October 19 , and the demo is already available to play. I'd love for you to give it a try, and any feedback is welcome! https://store.steampowered.com/app/5061070/One_Line_Wonder/ submitted by /u/Int”

“Some of you asked for network stats after my last posts, so here's a short one before Next Fest opens tonight ! 7,592 games from Valve's Next Fest preview list, every social link on their Steam page: 43% link no social network at all. The 100 most followed games link about 5. Discord (81%) and X (78%) first. The median Discord linked on these pages has 42 members, 9 online. 1 in 11 Discord invites is dead. I tested 400 at random. Under 100 followers, it's 1 in 8. Bigger teams do more”

“Hi, we are Dad and Son Games! We just wanted to thank you all for helping us reach our first 1000 wishlists right on time for the Steam Next Fest tomorrow!!! When we started this journey I just hoped not to fall into oblivion, and 1000 wishlists was our first goal when we started this... It's our first game and it's more then enough to keep us two fighting for our dream of doing games together! Thank you everyone!!! Victor - Dad Alex - Son https://preview.redd.it/w8x9tn5qd9wh1.png?width=”

“Is it a normal phenomenon ? i also have a big increase in players on my demo, almost reaching 200 concurrent players game : https://store.steampowered.com/app/5064170/Go_Next/ submitted by /u/maxlopezos [link] [comments]”

Hi everyone! Recently, I joined a roguelike festival, and my wishlists have been climbing much faster than before. I haven't done much marketing, apart from joining the festival, which is earning me…

“Hey everyone, back with more Steam data, and this one is kinda brutal ! :D I've been tracking every unreleased Steam game with a demo every day since several month (big publishers excluded). So I looked at who actually got new followers in the 2 weeks right before Next Fest. 80,073 new followers in total. And 62 games, that's 1%, got 57% of them. The top 10% got 92% ! Meanwhile 54% of games gained zero followers in two weeks. And 68% of demos don't have a single Steam review yet.. Be”

“Solo dev here. In September my Zelda-like, Cecilia, had about 60 wishlists. Then I released a free demo and posted about it here on Reddit, and it went to ~250. What I think made the difference: - People could actually play it instead of just watching a trailer - Reddit posts drove most of the traffic to the Steam page - Steam's algorithm picked it up a bit after that Now I'm heading into Next Fest (Oct 19–26). For those who've done it before: what actually moved the needle for you d”

“I see steams list of festivals but it doesn’t include 3rd party festivals like tiny teams or tiny roguelikes - how can I find a list of all festivals? Does it exist? submitted by /u/_hopa [link] [comments]”

“Hey everyone! 🚀🐭 I'm the solo developer of Hop's Awakening!, a hand-drawn cute 'em up inspired by comics I created as a kid. I'm excited to participate in Steam Next Fest, October 19–26! The FREE demo is already available on Steam. Hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your feedback! 🎮💥 submitted by /u/Edencruzgames [link] [comments]”

“First game, demo is out, and I'm just over 3,000 wishlists heading into Next Fest. The demo has been added by over 3,400 people, and about 1,500 of them have actually played it. It's a story-driven mystery visual novel, so the demo is one full case. The demo has an in-game survey, and I've already had solid feedback through it. I used that to make the demo a lot clearer to follow, so the build is in decent shape and feedback isn't what I'm chasing anymore. Median playtime on”

“I shipped my first commercial game called Immunica a few months ago after 3 months of solo dev. It's a small Nodebuster style incremental game. I did almost zero marketing during development (literally 3 shorts and a few tweets) and was sitting at 82 wishlists a month before Next Fest. Here is how the numbers ended up looking: Tiny Roguelikes event: +474 wishlists in 2 weeks Steam Next Fest: +160 wishlists Wishlists at launch: ~700 Sales: 147 in the first 3 days, 234 first week, 895 total so”

“I am in Australia and it says SNF will begin at 3am on Tuesday. Should I wake up for this or can I leave the first 4 hours alone? Will anything interesting happen? Will I miss anything as a deveoper that has a game in it? THanks submitted by /u/samohtvii [link] [comments]”

submitted by /u/maxlopezos [link] [comments]

“I was thinking about starting to market my game, but unfortunately I didn't sign up for Next Fest in time. I read somewhere that it might not be a good idea to promote yourself during Next Fest because all the attention will be focused on the event, which makes sense to me. But my question is more specific: Is it better to wait a long time after it's over? Or would it be a good idea to start right after the week-long event ends? Thank you very much! submitted by /u/thegalgade”

“We just need 143 wishlists to reach 1000! :D Hi! We are Dad and Son Games Studios, and this is our first commercial release. We've been working in the game for almost a year and we are struggling to make the game a bit visible, but I haven't managed to make any viral clips or trailers that gives us the desired 5000 wishlists in a day. Anyways, we released the demo some days ago and the feedback from the first players has been awesome! We know the game is great and fun...but we still didn”

“Hey everyone! I'm a solo game dev working on a game called Desert Echo, and I'm participating in Steam Next Fest. Besides this, I'd love to hear from other indie devs about your experiences with game festivals and events. Are there any other festivals or events you'd recommend joining? How do you find upcoming festivals, and how do you decide which ones are actually worth your time and effort? Outside of festivals, where do you usually promote your game and reach potential player”

“I'm in time for the deadline, but I don't know if it's a good idea or an absurd one. Has anyone done this? submitted by /u/WranglerIntrepid3817 [link] [comments]”

“Launched the steampage almost a month ago, released a demo and waiting for NextFest to boost it up. Don’t know if the numbers are good, comparing to others but for me that’s a good result as all the games are done by my hand, not some kind of AI generated and I have no budget for any marketing beside making a posts in related groups. submitted by /u/CarWorth2713 [link] [comments]”

“I’ve seen quite a few indie devs talking about a noticeable boost in wishlists after their game appeared on Steam’s release date calendar. For those of you who’ve experienced this firsthand: - Did you actually see a significant increase in wishlists? - How long before release did the boost start? A few days, a couple of weeks, or a month or more? - Was it a gradual increase or more of a sudden spike? I’m especially interested in hearing about real numbers and experiences from indie devs who’ve l”

“I’ve seen quite a few indie devs talking about a noticeable boost in wishlists after their game appeared on Steam’s release date calendar. For those of you who’ve experienced this firsthand: - Did you actually see a significant increase in wishlists? - How long before release did the boost start? A few days, a couple of weeks, or a month or more? - Was it a gradual increase or more of a sudden spike? I’m especially interested in hearing about real numbers and experiences from indie devs who’ve l”

submitted by /u/hogon2099 [link] [comments]

“Got into Convergence Fest and the pre-showcase, and currently sitting on the main page! I believe I'm like many other devs: applying to lots of festivals, getting rejected, then applying to more, getting more rejections, until finally getting into one. And it feels amazing! Big thanks to the organisers 🙌 Hope things like this happen more often for games we put so much work and dedication into. Keep it up! The game is pixel art cyberpunk narrative hybrid called Synapse, dropping a link of an”

“Yesterday we launched the demo for Defender of Darkness, and peak concurrent players reached 215. Here are the stats after 12 hours. Region Wishlist Adds Wishlist Deletes Conversions (Purchases & Gifts) Period Balance Central Asia 501 137 0 364 Asia 171 14 0 157 Western Europe 154 63 0 91 Latin America 134 38 0 96 Eastern Europe 127 30 0 97 North America 76 31 0 45 South East Asia 51 7 0 44 Middle East 42 28 0 14 South Asia 32 7 0 25 Oceania 30 2 0 28 Other 21 13 0 8 Total 1,339 370 0 969 Wh”

“Got into Convergence Fest and the pre-showcase, and currently sitting on the main page! I believe I'm like many other devs: applying to lots of festivals, getting rejected, then applying to more, getting more rejections, until finally getting into one. And it feels amazing! Big thanks to the organisers 🙌 Hope things like this happen more often for games we put so much work and dedication into. Keep it up! submitted by /u/playsynapse [link] [comments]”

“I haven't yet sent the Steam one-time only announcing the demo to my wishlists. But figured better to wait till I'm closer to NextFest to help the algorithm today first few days? Idk if that's best or not. In the end, it was super stressful milestone to get the demo out. But idk what I was caring so much about since no one is playing to get me any stats on avg playtime, etc. It's been almost a week. 1) What's everyone seeing with demo release week? More than my 7 players, I h”

“Hey everyone! I’m a solo dev heading into my first Steam Next Fest with around 18k Wishlist's. My game is a co-op horror game. My game also release two days after next fest into the scream event I’m trying to figure out what results I can realistically expect in terms of Wishlist growth and demo players. Honestly, I’m a little worried it won’t get the traction I’m hoping for, and I don’t really know where I stand compared to other games entering. What’s everyone else bringing to Next Fest, a”

“https://store.steampowered.com/app/3652920/Netherwake/ submitted by /u/Long-Buddy-342 [link] [comments]”

“Same on tag pages: about a third fewer impressions over the past week than in September. Click-through is the same, it's just being shown less. I did change my tags around the same time, so that might be part of it. It's a bit concerning going into Next Fest on the 19th, as I have little-to-no way of knowing what's causing the shift. If this happened to yours, did it come back after the fest, or did something you changed bring it back? submitted by /u/DeckBeasts1 [link] &”

“Such as, whether you have a wishlist number you're aiming to hit, even though the SNFs of this - and prior years - have shown that the event is not the wishlist boost some people expect. Despite the visibility you can theoretically get. Too many games, and it's a wasted one-timer if not handled right. I heard lots of wildly different stories from different devs, same as many of you, I would imagine. submitted by /u/mapletreelofi [link] [comments]”

“I've tried everything - short form content, reaching out to streamers/youtubers, participating in festivals, posting on X. But I can't possibly have time for everything, I have other obligations in life that hinder my ability to do full-on marketing. And well, polishing the demo version. What would you say, is my game ready for SNF? I have 286 wishlists, mostly from direct navigations.. and 8k impressions, mostly from search results, that I suspect to be a false alarm since my game is ca”

“We ran two creator campaigns for our co-op action game Twin Hooks ahead of Next Fest. Campaign 1: \~600k views \~1,700 wishlists \~$3,200 spent Campaign 2: \~865k views \~1,128 wishlists \~$4,200 spent So roughly: 1.46M views 2,800 wishlists $7,400 spent The weird part is the campaign with fewer views converted much better . My biggest takeaway: impressions hide a ton of context. A short-form mobile view in a cheap-CPM region and a view from a PC gaming creator whose audience is already sitting”

“We ran two creator campaigns for our co-op action game Twin Hooks ahead of Next Fest. Campaign 1: ~600k views ~1,700 wishlists ~$3,200 spent Campaign 2: ~865k views ~1,128 wishlists ~$4,200 spent So roughly: 1.46M views 2,800 wishlists $7,400 spent The weird part is the campaign with fewer views converted much better . My biggest takeaway: impressions hide a ton of context. A short-form mobile view in a cheap-CPM region and a view from a PC gaming creator whose audience is already sitting at Ste”

submitted by /u/Rabidowski [link] [comments]

“Somehow I've had October 13th in my head for submitting a game demo to Steam Next Fest, but now I just noticed their calendar says September 28! Submit by Sep 14 to take part in the Press Preview, or by Sep 28 otherwise. Is it a closed window now? Too late to bother? Or would it just mean it could still go live after the fest begins? submitted by /u/Rabidowski [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone, Over the past 2 years, I've been solo-developing a psychological horror game called "Who Am I" , and I'm planning to release it on Steam in early November. Since this is my very first game and first release, there’s a lot I lack and still don't know. I’m posting this because I'd love to hear some advice and experiences from veteran developers who have successfully launched games before. My game already has a Steam page and a demo out, and I'll be partic”

“We are really happy to get this milestone before the Next Fest in October, Our new demo will be playable there! submitted by /u/lordlolek [link] [comments]”

“Who participated in previous ones, was it always like this? submitted by /u/Darklisez [link] [comments]”

“https://store.steampowered.com/app/4700370/Worlda/ My indie game Worlda will be participating in the upcoming Steam Next Fest! I am an indie game dev and this is my first game on Steam. It is a game about a bear in the style of Terraria or Necesse. Check it out! submitted by /u/Reasonable-Hunt-137 [link] [comments]”

submitted by /u/Long-Buddy-342 [link] [comments]

“Title. I've been working on this 4X strategy game for 1.5 years now, and I'm looking to prepare for October 2026 steam next fest. I've seen some posts on here from people saying that you should spend 6 months marketing your game before you do next fest, and it's making me feel like maybe the game and my marketing work isn't ready for next fest. I've been posting shorts about the game regularly (2-3 per week) for about a year now, and I've been emailing content creator”

“I just released the demo of my game that will participate in the next steam next fest. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4824030/Scratch_It_Lucky_Cards/ submitted by /u/Unlikely_Excuse_4527 [link] [comments]”

“So, any of you participating in Next Fest this October will have already received this email, but I figured I'd pass it on to anyone else. From their email itself: Given the increasing number of games participating in Steam Next Fest, we're making some more improvements to help ensure the event continues to be a good experience for both developers and players. Beginning with this upcoming October edition, we’re introducing a powerful new filtering system where players can explore demos b”

“Hi guys, We will take part in the upcoming Steam Next Fest for the first time ever with our game Ophelia's Paradise . We are very excited but also a bit afraid of missing out on something, as we have no idea what will await us. Apart from the obvious, like polishing our Steam page and having an awesome demo up (we did our best here at least :D), is there anything else we should prepare? And also, is there something we should actively do during the festival? Is streaming the game worth it, fo”

“Title. I've been working on this 4X strategy game for 1.5 years now, and I'm looking to prepare for October 2026 steam next fest. I've seen some posts on here from people saying that you should spend 6 months marketing your game before you do next fest, and it's making me feel like maybe the game and my marketing work isn't ready for next fest. I've been posting shorts about the game regularly (2-3 per week) for about a year now, and I've been emailing content creator”

“I'm making a co-op bartending simulation game called Bartend With Your Friends, Within the next 2 days i need to decide if i want to participate in the upcoming OCT next fest, I've registered and my demo is ready, my game is also stable and looks pretty good, but my store page has only been live for around 2 weeks leading to me only having 130 wish lists, as I'm solo I've had to choose between marketing or improving the game, and I've recently been pushing to polish the demo”

“i know i can polish it more before steam next fest, and that is the plan. what i am not sure about is if i should release the demo before that, even if it is still a bit rough around the edges. part of me thinks releasing it earlier could help me get useful feedback and catch problems before next fest, but i also dont want someone's first impression of the game to be an unfinished version. so i am curious, would you release a demo early for feedback and keep polishing it until next fest, or”

“So curated events (seasonal, by publisher, by region, by genre....) were a staple of the Steam ecosystem for a long time. I can personally vouch for their effectiveness in giving exposure to smaller indie titles if they managed to get featured in an event. This seems like a massive blow to indies discoverability. Any more information? What do you think? https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/676258795703240952 EDIT: Okay, after reading the discussion below, as well as”

“Valve announced on September 29 that Steam’s Discounts & Events section is moving toward more personalized recommendations, with the curated calendar being phased out in early 2027. For anyone with a released game who ran a discount recently: Did traffic from Discounts & Events change? Did any increase in visits translate into sales or wishlists? Roughly how many reviews does your game have, and what genre is it? submitted by /u/Prize-Sale-4004 [link] [comments]”

“Hey, I’m just starting out in my indie dev career, and I’ve decided to interview some indie devs at Gamescom. It turned out to be a great overview of the industry: I’ve managed to interview a few devs, a joint university project, an indie publisher, a guy who worked on the business side of the industry for a long time, and two devs with big titles. Not gonna lie, this is also me promoting my YouTube channel, but I really tried to make a good video, and the conversations turned out to be pretty i”

“Hey, devs! I have read a lot of Next Fest tactics on how you plan to promote your game. Well, most of them cover the same things tho like how the algorithm works, how wishlists convert, and how to time the demo. Well, these are important for sure but I want to know how you usually prepare pre-Next Fest. Did you prepare 3 months before? Weeks before? Or what did you change so far? Did you change how often you posted? Did you focus more on one platform? Did you save certain content for festival we”

“I am the solo dev of A Dark Cave, a dark story-driven minimalist incremental village builder. I am participating in Steam Next Fest from 19-26 Oct 2026, and my game will launch on 27 Oct 2026. So I thought contacting some content creators might be helpful. Over the last few weeks, I sent emails to indie content creators who are active on YouTube / Twitch / TikTok / Instagram. As I like data, I tracked every recipient and classified the outcome. Funnel (Sankey URL) : 410 tip emails sent 391 no re”

“I have entered into the steam next fest, with very few wishlists. Would it be possible to ‘pull out’ now and then enter into the next fest in Feb? I have no idea how this stuff works. submitted by /u/archie_GRYM [link] [comments]”

“We're making a co-operative game like PEAK, and we're about 3 months from release, Steam page will be going up soon. But it's just a bunch of friends making the game and we didn't know much about how steam works from a developer perspective and only just heard about nextfest, of which the next one is in October and we seem to be too late for the current next fest but too far from the next one! But is it _really_ necessary? Especially with all the slop coming out in the fest, sure”

“Hey guys! Is it a good idea to target February Steam Next Fest, if I don't have marketing at all now? I mean, I'm working on a prototype, with the hope of getting the demo done by the end of this year. And I would create a Steam page in a month or so, once I have more visuals. But I'm afraid that this is too little time to start gathering wishlists, and since Steam Next Fest is a multiplier, I might end up with a lower potential than I could have. Chris Zukowski says that it's be”

“Hey guys! Is it a good idea to target February Steam Next Fest, if I don't have marketing at all now? I mean, I'm working on a prototype, with the hope of getting the demo done by the end of this year. And I would create a Steam page in a month or so, once I have more visuals. But I'm afraid that this is too little time to start gathering wishlists, and since Steam Next Fest is a multiplier, I might end up with a lower potential than I could have. Chris Zukowski says that it's be”