{"id":49243,"date":"2025-06-20T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=49243"},"modified":"2025-06-19T16:05:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T07:05:40","slug":"steam-next-fest-disappoints-japanese-indie-devs-with-meager-wishlist-gains-but-theres-an-important-catch-to-how-the-algorithm-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/steam-next-fest-disappoints-japanese-indie-devs-with-meager-wishlist-gains-but-theres-an-important-catch-to-how-the-algorithm-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Steam Next Fest disappoints Japanese indie devs with meager Wishlist gains \u2013 but there\u2019s an important catch to how the algorithm works\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taking place three times a year, Steam Next Fest<\/strong> (SNF) is a week-long event during which Steam users can try out a bunch of free, limited-time game demos. In turn, the developers benefit from increased visibility on the platform and a chance to gain more Wishlists. Valve’s most recent Next Fest just ended on June 16, but a couple of Japanese indie developers have reported underwhelming results from it. Given that each game can only participate in a single SNF, it\u2019s very disappointing to spend your \u201cone shot\u201d only to gain nothing from it \u2013 but there\u2019s a lot to be considered about how Steam Next Fest functions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mean to be negative or try to seek sympathy, but I just want to get this out so it\u2019s easier for me to process,\u201d Indie developer Cuticle Nyan Co., tweeted<\/a> on June 17. They report that, contrary to their expectations, participation in SNF yielded only a minor increase in Wishlists and close to zero secondary exposure (through social media or people streaming the demo). Cuticle Nyan is the creator of anime-style action platformer Magical Girl Critical DELUXE.<\/a> Despite Next Fest ending, they\u2019ve decided to keep their free demo live as the results were underwhelming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response, other independent Japanese developers have echoed the sentiment, as Sword Guild comments<\/a>, \u201cI was also thinking about how I didn\u2019t get a significant boost in Wishlists nor any particular exposure, but I guess that\u2019s the case for many of us. Maybe I had my expectations too high after reading that the median increase in Wishlists was 1,000 to 2,000.\u201d Developer Mugen Bit adds<\/a> \u201cI got the same impression. I heard Wishlists grow significantly during Next Fest, but it was only in the double digits for me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steam Next Fest is indeed known for helping create breakout hits, and adjustments to its algorithms from 2024 have supposedly made it so that smaller titles stand on a more equal footing with big projects. However, there\u2019s a catch \u2013 based on survey responses from 208 developers who participated in the February 2025 Next Fest, HowToMarketAGame<\/a> points out that SNF\u2019s algorithm only \u201cworks its magic\u201d when you already have a significant number of Wishlists to begin with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correlation between the number of Wishlists a game has before participating in SNF versus how much it earns during the event is strong \u2013 to the point that \u201cIt really seems like you don\u2019t get any sort of lift from Steam Next Fest unless you have at least 2000 Wishlists.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart
How many Wishlists you can expect to get (median and average) during Steam Next Fest based on how many you have prior (Image Credit: HowToMarketAGame<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

HowToMarketAGame advises game developers not to treat Steam Next Fest as a means of getting their games noticed for the first time, but rather, as a way to ramp up their game\u2019s visibility after they’ve already gained some momentum through other efforts like marketing. In other words, launching your demo with Next Fest is potentially a big mistake \u2013 instead, a more beneficial approach would be to have it out months before \u2013 polished and with some amount of reviews and Wishlists already accumulated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While achieving this initial pool of Wishlists is a high hurdle for small creators with limited means to market their games, knowing how to time your participation in Steam Next Fest \u2013 a golden opportunity for developers, can make a big difference. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steam Next Fest is known for giving developers a golden opportunity to gain visibility – but there are important factors to consider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":49246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-49243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nSteam Next Fest disappoints Japanese indie devs with meager Wishlist gains \u2013 but there\u2019s an important catch to how the algorithm works\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steam Next Fest is known for giving developers a golden opportunity to gain visibility - but there are some things to consider.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/steam-next-fest-disappoints-japanese-indie-devs-with-meager-wishlist-gains-but-theres-an-important-catch-to-how-the-algorithm-works\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steam Next Fest disappoints Japanese indie devs with meager Wishlist gains \u2013 but there\u2019s an important catch to how the algorithm works\u00a0 - 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