Valve rebranded Steam Game Festival to Steam Next Fest last June, and the name change apparently helped. The online festival saw hundreds of demos and live streams from game developers all over the world, with a ton of engagement with potential customers.
However, there's concern amongst indie devs that giant festivals like Steam Next Fest can make it hard to stand out. With hundreds of game devs showcasing their stuff, it'd be easy for many to get lost in the noise.
Valve's latest blog update for Steam Next Fest is here to put those concerns to rest. According to Valve's numbers from June's Next Fest, taking part is almost guaranteed to increase game sales.
During last June's festival, the median value for wishlist additions jumped 421% compared to the two weeks leading up to Next Fest. Since this is a median value, roughly half of the games that took part saw wishlist additions even higher, while roughly 45% saw a smaller increase–but still an increase!
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Only 5% of participants experienced a decrease in wishlist additions. This means 19 out of 20 game devs that took part in Steam Next Fest saw more wishlisting as a result. And the benefits continued even after Next Fest had ended, with 15% higher daily wishlist additions in the three weeks following Next Fest.
Being on people's wishlists also means more sales. The median game saw a 292% increase in "converting wishlists" during Next Fest compared to the two weeks leading up to the event.
The next Steam Next Fest is scheduled for this October, with game devs encouraged to sign up before the registration deadline of August 15. You’ve got 95% odds of having better sales by taking part.
In other Steam news, Cookie Clicker is coming to Steam on September 1, so get ready to kiss your productivity goodbye.
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