Across the calendar year, there are a lot of gaming events to get excited about. Whether it’s Gamescom, The Game Awards, or a Nintendo Direct, there always seems to be a new occasion to celebrate upcoming games, but they are often just a series of marketing clips and trailers that don’t actually let players experience the games firsthand. This means that while a big-budget AAA release may look great on paper, until you shell out upwards of $60, you don’t know whether it’s going to run well or fit your tastes, which is why events like Steam Next Fest are so important.
The next festival of demos is due to run from October 19–26, and as always, will include hundreds of demos for upcoming games, as well as potentially some brand-new ones that we have never even seen. What this does is give developers a nice big window of publicity on Steam to really show off their game, and also means that someone who might have otherwise just wishlisted it can actually play through a snippet, to add an extra level of excitement that simply wouldn’t exist without a demo. More importantly, it allows you to make an informed decision about buying the game at launch, a factor that has only become more prevalent as AAA prices continue to rise.
Steam Demos Solve the Biggest Modern Gaming Issue
It’s no secret that when it comes to PC gaming, Steam is the premier platform for buying and playing games. For devs, it doesn’t matter if you’re an AAA publisher or a first-time indie creator; Valve has fostered an incredible landscape for developers, and part of why is the ability to add demos for upcoming releases. Any game can have a demo button added to its page, and it allows players to physically play the game before launch, as well as allowing developers to gather additional player feedback that would normally come much later.
Also, speaking from personal experience, I think the true power of demos comes from how easily they can turn an on-the-fence buyer into an excited one. If I load up a platform and browse for upcoming releases, I can only get as hyped as the trailers and details allow me to, but by downloading a Steam demo, I can test how the game runs on my PC, if the gameplay is as fun as it looks, and ultimately, if I want to reach into my wallet when it becomes available. That latter point is perhaps the biggest, as a lot of big AAA games nowadays are charging well over $60 for the base version, and if there is no demo to try it out, then many people may be too worried about wasting their money and will end up buying something else.
It allows you to make an informed decision about buying the game at launch, a factor that has only become more prevalent as AAA prices continue to rise.
There is, of course, the refund window that Steam has, which gives you a two-hour or so period with which to try the game and return it should you want to. The problem is that, for much larger games, it can feel a little awkward to spend all that money, download a giant file, and then refund it a couple of hours later, when a demo would have made the whole process a lot smoother for everyone involved. That’s what makes events like Steam Next Fest so appealing, as you can spend a whole week experiencing as many games as you want across a whole range of genres, without any of the commitment of actually buying the game, and come out the other side with a more refined wishlist of games you will be more likely to purchase at launch.
Additionally, the majority of the Steam Next Fest demos will stay up after the event finishes, something which is up to the developer, but on the whole, they tend to remain past that period. So even if you aren’t able to download and power through a bunch of games during the event, you will still have an opportunity to get on the hype train and enjoy the demos on your own terms. And as these events continue to grow, it puts a certain level of pressure on AAA devs to ensure their games are both worth the money and actually ready to release.
AAA Developers Are Underutilizing Demos
When you take a step back and look at the current gaming landscape, it has become pretty obvious that indie games are not only a force to be reckoned with, but are now able to consistently outperform much larger releases in terms of sales and also review scores. In 2026 alone, we have seen countless indie bangers, from Reanimal to Cairn, and a lot of these games were given a nice head start thanks to including a demo on their Steam page. Many people who saw a brand-new game with an interesting idea were able to try it before they bought it, and due to how good that short amount of gameplay was, a large number then went on to pay for the full experience.
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Image via Konami, Annapurna Interactive, Screen Burn -
Conversely, there have been a lot of big-budget releases recently that could have probably benefited from even a 30-minute demo, instead of forcing players to gamble on whether the game would be fun or even run on their setup. In my case, Beast of Reincarnation was a game I was really looking forward to, and I decided to buy it on release, expecting big things and not thinking about potential issues. However, I was immediately met with poor performance and a multitude of other problems, despite how great the core of the game was. If I was given the option to demo the game beforehand, then I probably wouldn’t have bought it at full price, but I now have to live with the mistake and either wait for even better optimization or struggle through it as is.
Not all AAA are built the same, of course, yet when the monetary asks continue to grow higher and higher, you have to wonder why so many devs are still not putting out a demo ahead of launch. It does take some additional resources to push out a standalone demo, especially if you want to do so across a number of platforms, but I would argue it is always worth it to make sure your customers are getting what they expect, rather than hoping for the best when things go live. On a more positive note, the October Steam Next Fest should come with some incredible demos and awesome reveals, so I highly recommend getting your PC ready for some demo action.
Steam Next Fest runs from October 19–26.
